Because I am a contrarian sheep

[womzilla]

In my life:

The Seven Contrary Virtues

1. kindness (against envy)


2. liberality (against greed)


3. diligence (against sloth)


4. patience (against anger)


5. humility (against pride)


6. abstinence (against gluttony)


7. chastity (against lust)

I know there are people who will laugh that I don't list "humility" last. Fortunately, I am patient.

And as for chastity, does it count if you don't actually consider it a virtue at all?

Also, The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy

1. feed the hungry


2. give drink to the thirsty


I give money to beggars a lot. The last thing I did in the World Trade Center in summer 2001 was buy a homeless man a meal. It included a soda.


3. clothe the naked


We give clothes to charities fairly frequently--good ones, too. (nellorat discovered that charities which are generally "full up" on clothing usually still need plus-sized clothes.)


4. visit the sick


In hospitals. Not often enough, but some.


5. give shelter to strangers


And to annoying friends.


6. bury the dead


7. minister to prisoners


I'm pretty sure I've never actually done the last two, directly, at all. I should at least try to give to charities that do.

Comments

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Your list of good works is inspiring. If you want to find charities that bury the dead, the Jewish organizations that wash and prepare bodies for burial are called "chevra kadisha" and I'm sure there are some in or near your neighborhood. I bow in your general direction.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Chastity: whether you'd consider it a virtue might depend on what you think it means. "Sexual abstinence" is not what it was put on the list of virtues for. "Sexual continence" is more like it, and in general it can applied to moral modesty. Writing up a list of virtues for the purpose of admitting that you haven't done some of them is a fairly chaste thing to do.

Burying the dead: In Judaism it is practiced for each mourner at a graveside (who wants to) to take a spadeful of earth on to the coffin. I've done that, more than once. That's literal; there's also indirect burying. (As in to say, you don't actually clothe anyone when you donate to charities, but you enable it to be done.) I know of one close to you who has died; you might consider what you did for him on that occasion.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

We definitely should find a charity that helps people in prisons, maybe by education or maybe by facilitating family contact (paying for transportation, etc.).