I guess it depends on what you mean by "doing the right thing." From a moral or ethical standpoint---and a healthy living standpoint---I think doing the right thing often does feel hard because it seems as though so many people are not doing what is right, and so as a result one feels as though one is fighting against a current---that everyone else is taking the path of least resistance. And if one feels one has taken the more difficult moral highground, one tends to feel virtuous as a result.
As for hardship contests, I think I know what you mean, although is it really (just) admiration people want for their (perceived or genuine) suffering, or sympathy and maybe pity? I think that for many people admiration often feels less rewarding, feels less nourishing, than sympathy/pity does.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 09:35 pm (UTC)I guess it depends on what you mean by "doing the right thing." From a moral or ethical standpoint---and a healthy living standpoint---I think doing the right thing often does feel hard because it seems as though so many people are not doing what is right, and so as a result one feels as though one is fighting against a current---that everyone else is taking the path of least resistance. And if one feels one has taken the more difficult moral highground, one tends to feel virtuous as a result.
As for hardship contests, I think I know what you mean, although is it really (just) admiration people want for their (perceived or genuine) suffering, or sympathy and maybe pity? I think that for many people admiration often feels less rewarding, feels less nourishing, than sympathy/pity does.