Self improvement twitter loves to shit on other people's vices

And I'll be the last to deny it's for good reason. There is way too much vice in our societies

However, it's important to add a counterpoint here

The relationship between virtue and vice is highly complex

First of all, let's not kid ourselves. We all have our own vices

It's easy to judge others for their own vices when theirs are different than yours

But let's be honest here, who are you to judge someone on their porn addiction when you suffer from social media addiction?

Secondly, although it is definitely a good idea to work on combating your worst vices, you also sort of need them

Just like how there cannot be good without evil, there cannot be virtue without vice

As much as we like to deny it, we humans need our vices. We love our vices

In fact we often take pride in our own vice

"Haha you spend your Friday evenings playing videogames, I spend mine trying to seduce as many women as possible in the club"

We take pride in becoming good at our vices

Even if we hypocritically simultaneously mock others for theirs

Vice and virtue seem to be highly linked together

Whereas popular thinking is that they are opposed to each other, it seems in reality they are mostly complementary

The people with the highest virtues often also have big vices

Those without vice are often also without virtue

The people you know that are without vice are often also without personality. They are bland people that merely exist and don't add much to anything

It seems we need vices to truly live. We need to do bad so we can also do good.

We need our vices so we can have our virtues

Which isn't to say that having many vices automatically means that you also have many virtues

But it does mean that whenever you see someone that is very virtuous, they are likely to also have some pretty big vices that you just cannot see yet

My point to all this, is that rather than mocking others for their vices, it's better to become aware of your own

To focus on your own virtues to balance out your vices and to pick the right vices for you

Perhaps that's playing video games, perhaps it's seducing many women

What really matters is how you balance the vices you have out with the virtues you are striving for

Someone that spends 50 hours a week working hard and serving his community, but they also waste 20 hours a week on social media,

is better than someone that does neither

And perhaps there are those out there that manage to do 100 hours of virtuous work a week consistently with no vice

But in my experience vice always finds a way to accompany you on your journey

Those who work hardest often suffer from selfishness or greed

Vice is who we are