The more I live, the more I come to understand how much more loudly actions speak than words. Perhaps Plato was wrong--perhaps a man can understand a truth perfectly, yet have an imperfect soul. And he has an imperfect soul because, like a philosopher, he dislikes coming back down to the city. He prefers to spend his time in intellectual contemplation but knows that the most difficult challenge lies not in intellectual struggle, but in compelling himself to act in a way that he knows is good. He is afraid of ruling the city because he is afraid he will fail at living the good life, at acting in a way that is good--even after, most embarrassingly, he understands the principles which define what the good life is.
I am less and less impressed by people who have read the right books and who can excitedly convey the beauty of the arguments found in these books. I am not put at ease when a man says that he agrees with this or that position. I will only be put at ease when I see him, repeatedly, act in a way that demonstrates he lives by his principles. The point may sound evident, but it's a point that is easy to forget.
I will apply this principle in my interactions with others. Conversations over coffee can be interesting, and can help us get to know people to a point, but they never can help us to understand people as they truly are. Perhaps we can only come to respect people--and therefore to become their true friend, or maybe even their life-long companion--when we see them in action, faced with experiences which force them to apply principles they may be able to articulate perfectly.
