Against the grain

The owner of a beautiful face is often proud of it. Why? A beautiful face is mostly a gift of nature and not an achievement. We may admire and enjoy a pretty face and even compliment the owner, but we'll rarely give credit as an achievement and say: "Good job!" 

So is it with a beautiful nature. Some people are generous, some are kind, some are patient and understanding - by nature. It is good, but not necessarily an accomplishment. Our nature is partly gifted by Nature, and partly sculpted by our upbringing. The true thing to admire is right action in spite of wrong nature. 

When we speak of virtues - truthfulness, generosity, compassion etc - they are all actionable virtues; they can take us to right action even if the particular circumstance would not have encouraged such action in the normal course of things. An unkind person performing a kind act gains much more merit than a naturally kind person doing so. A person who is "not so nice" performing an act of generosity against the grain, deserves applause. He is playing against a handicap.