Freedom has been defined as the opportunity for self-discipline
Dwight Eisenhower
Temptation is democratic, and it’s elitist. It’s democratic in that everyone experiences it: We want to stay in bed a little longer in the morning, not call mom, buy things we don’t need. It’s also elitist in that some temptations are only available to very few.
Only a man who is good at talking with women gets a chance to resist the temptation for infidelity. Those who are too shy or too unattractive never find out if they could resist. It’s a bigger achievement for Timothée Chalamet to be faithful than it is for me. Similarly, a manual laborer not committing financial crimes due to lack of opportunity isn’t a sign of good character.
Freedom, beauty, wealth and power all lead to temptation. Avoiding them isn’t a sign of goodness, it’s a way of avoiding to find out what you’re made of. In a way, the saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is true in that power provides the opportunity for corruption. It also provides the opportunity for resisting corruption.
According to C. S. Lewis, “A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness.” It’s the same for those who have never been led into temptation, and so in a way, it’s the very bad and the meek who know the least about badness.
Nehaveigur 