Can virtues be abused?

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I was having an engaging discussion with someone. This person stated that why is pride wrong if it is true. For example, what if you are better than someone in some way why is it wrong to say so. I guess this girl and her friend were fighting about something, she said she was more mature than her friends in almost every way. To an extent, it is hurtful but honestly it is true. Her point was that there is no point in becoming upset about something if it is true. Also thought about the virtue of honesty. I posted recently how this woman is unafraid to speak her honest opinions and criticisms. Something about it, rubs me the wrong way. I do not know why but I feel like it is power trip for her to be always telling people what is wrong with their life without her ever having to listen to anyone. Perhaps I am searching too deeply into it.
 
CRATUS said:
I was having an engaging discussion with someone. This person stated that why is pride wrong if it is true. For example, what if you are better than someone in some way why is it wrong to say so. I guess this girl and her friend were fighting about something, she said she was more mature than her friends in almost every way. To an extent, it is hurtful but honestly it is true. Her point was that there is no point in becoming upset about something if it is true. Also thought about the virtue of honesty. I posted recently how this woman is unafraid to speak her honest opinions and criticisms. Something about it, rubs me the wrong way. I do not know why but I feel like it is power trip for her to be always telling people what is wrong with their life without her ever having to listen to anyone. Perhaps I am searching too deeply into it.
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Pride = “I am better than person A.”

Humility = “God gave me a strong talent for… But God gave person A other talents.”
Humility is truth, not pride, pride is a lie that the person doesn’t need God and didn’t receive their gifts from God.
 
If your friend really is smarter than many others around her, then it would not be wrong for her to acknowledge that fact, and to share it accordingly.

The key word: accordingly.

If your friend has a habit of parading her increased intelligence, she is arrogant, and must adjust herself… accordingly. 😃

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:coffeeread:

Sexual intercourse is naturally good. It can be abused, corrupted, or otherwise misused through things like pornography, rape, and contraception.

Education is naturally good. It can be abused, corrupted, or otherwise misused through blatantly biased teachers, classroom disorganization, and the presence of illegal drug trading within the schools.

By the same note… Virtues are naturally good. They can be abused, corrupted, or otherwise misused through arrogance, sloth, and rejection.
 
What about being honest that you are more beautiful than someone else?
 
CRATUS said:
What about being honest that you are more beautiful than someone else?
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If someone boasts about their beauty and being more beautiful than others, that person needs to develop inner beauty through prayer and the sacraments.
 
I don’t know about your examples in the original post, but, I can totally see people abusing someone else’s patience.
 
It’s sometimes easier for us to see the flaws in others than ourselves. If pride and arrogance exhibited in another is disgusting or off putting to you, then imagine that is how oneself is perceived by others when one is likewise prideful and arrogant.
 
fisherman_carl said:
It’s sometimes easier for us to see the flaws in others than ourselves. If pride and arrogance exhibited in another is disgusting or off putting to you, then imagine that is how oneself is perceived by others when one is likewise prideful and arrogant.
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Interesting.
 
CRATUS said:
I was having an engaging discussion with someone. This person stated that why is pride wrong if it is true. For example, what if you are better than someone in some way why is it wrong to say so. I guess this girl and her friend were fighting about something, she said she was more mature than her friends in almost every way. To an extent, it is hurtful but honestly it is true. Her point was that there is no point in becoming upset about something if it is true.
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If one claims a perfection as their own then one is wrong. The perfection comes through them but not from them. All goodness comes from God. In justice, the praise goes to Him.
CRATUS said:
Also thought about the virtue of honesty. I posted recently how this woman is unafraid to speak her honest opinions and criticisms. Something about it, rubs me the wrong way. I do not know why but I feel like it is power trip for her to be always telling people what is wrong with their life without her ever having to listen to anyone. Perhaps I am searching too deeply into it.
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We are required to speak the truth. We are not required to speak on matters of taste and if negative we are required to not speak at all. If the matter is of truth then we are not to disparage others as that is a moral evil. From the Catechism:

2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:

- of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
  • of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;
  • of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
Code: 
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.
2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

2481 Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.​
 
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