In this post I am going to virtue signal.
I'm going to signal to you the values and principles I strive to consistently practice.
I'm doing it for three reasons.
1. To be transparent; so you understand the lens through which I view my work and the world.
2. To hold myself publicly accountable; feel free to challenge me, support me, or otherwise engage with me however you'd like.
3. To introduce a new perspective; does virtue signaling have to be bad?
Here are my virtues. It's not exhaustive but it's decently comprehensive.
⇥ Equity – working to level the playing field.
⇥ Vulnerability – modeling authenticity and humility.
⇥ Equanimity – staying calm and centered.
⇥ Empathy – leading as a default disposition.
⇥ Curiosity – wondering why, how, what.
⇥ Detachment – decoupling my views from who I am.
Am I perfect? No. Am I hypocritical? Sometimes. Do my virtues conflict with each other? Often. Am I okay with all of that? Absolutely.
We use the term virtue signaling as an insult, to imply that what someone "signals" is not representative of their true "virtue."
Perhaps if more people knew, embodied, and shared their virtues with candor and consistency, there would be no need to accuse anyone of virtue signaling.
Instead we could be inspired to be better people.