Dorothy Day Vs Virtuous Person

A Greek philosopher, Aristotle, claimed there were various types of people. He arranged six categories of people: god-like, virtuous, self-restrained, unrestrained, vicious and animal-like. A virtuous person is someone who continuously does the right thing, their intellect and desires are perfectly aligned. A self-restrained person also does the right thing, however, unlike the virtuous person, their desires contradict their intellect. This type of person has an internal battle in their soul. They know what the right thing to do is, but they don’t always want to do it. Dorothy Day, is an example of a person who lived a virtuous life. She spent her life helping others, even if she could not afford to help, she would. She had created the Catholic

Day also had created the House of Hospitality, where she allowed homeless to stay for no price. A virtuous person and self-restrained person have various similarities and differences, and Dorothy Day can be used as an example of what a virtuous life looks like.

According Aristotle, a virtuous person will always use reason and intellect, and effortlessly make the correct decisions in every situation. They have their hexis in the correct place, and they have truly lived and struggled. With a virtuous person, life will have not been easy, and a virtuous person will have had to experience difficult times and learn from these experiences. These experiences are what will make them a virtuous person. For example, a person who had lived their life in poverty, then makes the decision to work and study to get a high paying job. With this, they dedicate a great deal of their time and money to helping the homeless. This person would be an example of what a virtuous person, their soul has had struggled, and without this they would have not become this person. They need to have this struggle in order to become a virtuous person. With a virtuous person, they are naturally a good person.

While learning of Dorothy's day life, we can truly see what a virtuous life looks like. Day grew up very little and played a major role in the social justice movement and was punished because of her part in it. Day had to overcome these struggles and because of this, she became a virtuous person. Day dedicated her life to helping the homeless and gave everything she had to people who had less than her. She had created a house of hospitality, that welcomed everyone, including drug addicts and prostitutes. Day didn’t ask for anything in return, she enjoyed helping these people. In the text she writes, “We appealed in our last issue for bed, and eight bed came. Our House of Hospitality for unemployed women is furnished now, and the surplus hat comes in we will gives to unemployed people in the neighborhood” (Day 60). Day was in the process of creating this one for women, it didn't matter how much she had, all she cared about was helping others in need. She used reason and her faith to make these choices, there was no battle, doing the right thing was natural. Dorothy Day was also one of the creators of the Catholic Worker, which became very influential to the social justice movement. A source writes, “They called the paper The "Catholic" Worker because at the time many Catholics were poor. Peter and Dorothy wanted to influence Catholics, who were criticized for a lack of social and political morality. The