Balance Part 2 - Our Greatest Strength/Weakness

I believe that our strengths and our weaknesses are related. Often what is a person's greatest strength is also his/her greatest weakness. How can this be?
Imagine someone who is very compassionate and really cares about other people. This person has a strength in that compassion. Caring about others is something we want in a person. But such compassion may blind that person. For example, such a person may meet a prisoner and feel compassion for him. The person may fight for the release of this prisoner who had a tough time early in his life. But it can turn out that the prisoner is still dangerous to society. Compassion for the difficult childhood of the prisoner may lead to a continued criminal campaign of violence.
This may seem extreme. But have we not all met someone who has a great deal of compassion that leads to tragic consequences. Perhaps someone who stays in an abusive relationship out of compassion for the abuser. Or a parent who fails to discipline a child due to compassion. Or a professor who passes a student with a hard luck story even though the student does not have the work ethic to achieve a degree. This is not to say that there is something wrong with compassion. It is a fine quality to have. But in an excess the strength of compassion can become a weakness.
This is the same for all such strengths. The strength of love can become the weakness of co-dependency. The strength of assertiveness can become the weakness of aggressiveness. The strength of ethnic pride can become the weakness of ethnic ethnocentrism. The strength of being autonomous can become the weakness of being a "lone wolf." The strength of passion can become the weakness of fanaticism. The list goes on.
It is within the seeds of our strengths where we often find our weaknesses. This has practical implications in that it can help us find our weakness and to appreciate the strengths connected to them. But is also shows how balance is such an important part of our reality. No characteristic is good in the extreme. And many bad characteristics are connected to other qualities that are good. We have to look for balance in our approaches and our personal actions.
But balance is not just important in our personal lives. It matters in the characteristics of our society. Looking at that reality will require more space than I want to use in this blog entry. Thus this series on balance will continue.

Sincerely,

Trouble-Maker