Characteristics of a Moral Person – continued
Dr Jozelle Miller
August 16, 2022
Characteristics of a Moral Person – continued

Loyal
A moral person would have the characteristic of loyalty. Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to an individual, country, group, or cause.

Loyalty also shows trustworthiness, keeps commitments, doesn’t talk behind others’ backs, and remains a worthy friend even in tough times.

Loyalty binds people together. Friendships, marriages, and nations are built on loyalty. A person who has no loyalty of any kind to anything or anyone would be a person who is friendless, loveless and nation less.

A moral individual is loyal towards their friends and by sticking to their side no matter the circumstances. Sometimes in such cases, when a friend commits a crime, and being loyal, one will help and protect one’s friend by lying. Is that moral or immoral? It is loyalty for sure. It can be moral on one end because the person is being true to one’s friend yet it is immoral for lying about friend’s wrong doing.

Loyalty towards friends also means that one would not and should not speak behind a friend’s back. A moral person do not tells secret or information that a friend shares. Apart from that, it is very important to have loyalty and trust in a marriage. A moral person would not cheat or be unfaithful towards their spouse. For the religious Christian, they would not commit adultery as stated in the 10 Commandments of God. Apart from that, in a group task, a moral person is loyal to the group to achieve success. They have commitments to their group.

Moreover, they would not leak information about their project to other groups. A moral individual is also loyal to their country. They would protect their country, and not slander the name of their country. Even in speaking out against atrocities and injustices which may exist in the country; a loyal person will be cautious not to create the demise of the country by “throwing out the baby with the bath water.”

Loyalty is frequently seen as a virtue, although a difficult one. It is created centrally by perseverance in a relationship to which a person has become naturally faithful. It is the typical expression found in friendship, to which loyalty is essential, families expect it, governments often demand it, and nations do what they can to nurture it.

Respect

Respect has great significance in daily life. As children we are taught to respect ourselves, our family, people, cultural traditions, people’s feelings and rights, our country’s flag and leaders. And we come to value and have respect for such things. Nonetheless, respect cannot be purchased or acquired. Respect must be earned through trust.

A moral person’s characteristic of respect is that they are respectful of themselves. It is part of everyday knowledge that respect and self-respect are intensely connected, if we don’t respect ourselves, other’s will not respect us.
Self-respecting individuals think about how their actions affect the people around them. They reason about what they do and ask themselves, “Is my actions going to hurt their feelings?”

They consider the consequences wisely before acting. They also think through what they say before blurting out upsetting words. When self-respecting people engross in disagreements with others, they act cautiously. They understand that upsetting words won’t help the person understand what is mistaken and will damage the relationship.

Other than that, moral people respect themselves by taking care of their body and do not involve themselves into negative activities. They do not drink, smoke or do drugs as they know the consequences of those activities to their health. When they have determination to keep their body in good working order, they’ll not only feel healthier physically, but there’s also a feel of sense of pride.

Moral individual respects the elders within their communities. They would offer to help them, with basic things such as to open the door, help them when crossing the road or giving them seat in the van or at the doctor’s office for instance.

A morally sound person will see the importance in respecting one’s parents. Without parents, one wouldn’t be here in the first place. As a moral person, they would respect their parents and appreciate them.

Listen to parent’s advice and obey them as they know what’s best for us. Being a respectful person also means that one speaks politely to people and do not raise their voices when unnecessary.

They would address older people with appropriate name, not on a first name basis; (as my mom would have taught me…remember you are not sex and size with an adult; know your place and role)

Respect is defined as a regard for or gratitude of the worth of someone. Respect should be the foundation of the society in which we live. Most individuals appreciate getting respect from others BUT SAD to say most of the time people fail to give respect.

The moral fabric of our society is in need of repair. We have to begin instilling these fundamental principles in your little ones, as they are going to be the men and women of tomorrow.

It is vital that we know the difference between right and wrong, achieve the skills needed to reach challenging moral goals, and discover the inspiration to do what is morally desirable. We have to work at increasing our own logical skills and self-reflection to assist us in concluding what is moral.

The world is just too complex and there are too many scenarios. Many things are now regarded as being relative. Relative to one’s own judgments and perceptions but I believe it is time for us to revisit those ABSOLUTE guidelines as the measure of morality going forward into the future.

“What is wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. Right is still right, even if no one else is doing it.”
– William Penn