Courage: The Missing Virtue in America's Character Crisis

[00:00] My name is Grace. I'm 13 and I've been

[00:02] homeschooled since kindergarten.

[00:05] I really appreciate your podcast.

[00:07] Politics can be difficult for me to

[00:10] fully understand, but the way in which

[00:12] you present ideas makes it easier to

[00:14] grasp. My younger sister and I recently

[00:17] started watching the online Hillsdale

[00:19] College course regarding the

[00:20] Constitution,

[00:21] [Applause]

[00:26] which we've been enjoying. So, this is

[00:29] my question to you. What advice do you

[00:31] have for me as I move into adulthood in

[00:34] order to become a more informed and

[00:36] involved citizen?

[00:38] >> Well, first of all, thank you for being

[00:39] here and

[00:42] I uh I have hope thanks to people like

[00:45] you. How old are you again?

[00:46] >> 13.

[00:47] >> 13. So, here's a couple things I want to

[00:51] encourage you to do. learn something new

[00:52] every single day and focus on what it

[00:56] means to be a good person and a person

[00:58] of strong character and especially when

[01:01] you get into the world of trying to be

[01:02] around social approval and kind of

[01:05] everything around you. Courage is what's

[01:07] missing in our country. We have a

[01:08] courage crisis right now. Moral courage

[01:10] is the most necessary yet absent

[01:12] characteristic in men. George S. Patton

[01:14] Aristotle who you will learn about if

[01:16] you continue on the wonderful Hillsdale

[01:17] courses and I'm glad you're already

[01:18] taking us. You're already well on your

[01:19] way. Aristotle said that courage is the

[01:22] ultimate virtue. Without it, there are

[01:23] no other virtues. Think about that. If

[01:25] people aren't courageous, you don't have

[01:26] honesty. You don't have justice. You

[01:29] don't have anything else that you don't

[01:30] have beauty. You don't have wonder. If

[01:31] people don't have courage to act and so

[01:34] at age 13, I want you to commit yourself

[01:36] to a life of courage. Courage is doing

[01:38] the right thing when you don't know how

[01:39] it's going to work out. Courage is

[01:41] committing yourself to the correct

[01:42] course of action regardless of the cost

[01:44] associated to it. And I'm given hope by

[01:47] the amount of young homeschooling

[01:48] children that are rising up in our

[01:50] country. Now, let me tell you this.

[01:52] People say, "Charlie, what does success

[01:53] look like?" New York Times headline in

[01:56] 2050.

[01:58] America's sudden, sudden, shocking, and

[02:01] inexplicable right turn can be traced

[02:04] back to homeschooling explosion during

[02:07] CO 19.

[02:09] That's what success looks like.