Virtue
vir·tue n. Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness.
An example or kind of moral excellence: the virtue of patience.
Chastity, especially in a woman.
A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage: a plan with the virtue of being practical.
Effective force or power: believed in the virtue of prayer.
virtues Christianity. The fifth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
Obsolete. Manly courage; valor.

And this for valor, in case the word is unfamiliar to you:
val·or n. Courage and boldness, as in battle; bravery.

Virtue is a wonderful word to me. My college fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, claimed three cardinal principles: virtue, diligence and brotherly love. They have since indicated a p.c. sensitivity to all three and backed away. Now it is their intention to "produce" a "balanced man" in the sense used by the Greeks. When I was a member, it was common knowledge that nine of the twelve founder became clergy. Our fraternity was a Christian brotherhood. That, too, has been purged by those who are embarassed by the Christianity of the founders.

I want to talk here, though, about the dictionary listing at the top of this message, particularly the noted "obsolete" word meaning of the word virtue: "manly courage, valor". Is this an indictment of the expectation of men in our times? Is it no longer considered "manly" to be courageous or bold in battle? Says who? Yet the heroic acts of the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are truly not publicized. The mission the men fighting there are committed to, the passion they have for their mission and their re-enlistment rates are not well publicized. It is considered unseemly to discuss by many, since there are many Americans who believe that there is no such thing as a "just" war or that this is the wrong war to support, but the right war to oppose. That means that, to them, there is nothing presently valorous or virtuous about being a soldier and dying for your country. To them, soldiers have been duped. Critics maintain, that those who believe that the war is moral or righteous are confused or blind. "War hero" will soon be synonymous with "war criminal" in the eyes of many. However, since people are shy of being accused of cursing returning veterans as in post-Vietnam war days, those who defame the war insist that they "support the troops". How can that be?

It can't.