FOURTH WEEK OF JULY

Vs. Extremism, fanaticism or weakness, laziness

• SUGGESTED READING:
  The Ethics
  The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
  Goldie Locks and the Three Bears

FAMILY ACTIVITY:

• Parents should talk to their children to help them to realize that other people can and do make innocent mistakes. Help them to realize that an insult might not be intended and that they should moderate their behavior to understand and forgive accidents.
• Sports can arouse strong emotions in children. Talk to your children about being good sports and not making fun of people who are not as good at a game as they are.

CLASS ACTIVITY:

• Have students write and perform a skit in which a character chooses between doing nothing to help someone in need, and helping them or going too far.

HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITY:

• Aristotle says that moderation is doing the proper amount of a type of behavior. Too much or too little of a behavior or belief can be harmful. Drawing on current events, history, or literature, describe a difficult situation in which a successful solution was found by acting in a moderate manner, avoiding the temptation of extremes.
• Are there things about which we should not be moderate? Is there a difference between a virtue, and the strength with which we pursue a virtue? Should one be moderate and the other extreme?

"Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve." -Benjamin Franklin

"It is better to rise from life as from a banquet--neither thirsty nor drunken." -Aristotle

"Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance." -Charles Caleb Colton

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." -Barry Goldwater

Perform a Random Act of Kindness Each Day

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