Virtue:
Patriotism
Other names:
Filial Piety
Filial Piety
Definition:
Doing your duty to your country and your parents
"disposes to the fulfillment of duties which one owes to parents and country" (CE)
Advice:
Empirical Research:
Case examples:
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Further reading:
Vices opposed:
Disloyalty*; Fanaticism* (placing duty to country or parents over duty to God)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteMary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, explains the virtue of patriotism in her book, the Mary Kay Way. "The pride we feel for our work and our Company is similar to that which we feel for our country. We are proud to be Americans, and we are proud to let everyone know it.
"Several years ago, in his closing remarks at one of our annual Seminars, my son Richard verbalized our patriotism this way:
"'Over the years, I have given many Mary Kay speeches related to our free enterprise system. I feel our free enterprise system is important because without it you would not be here. I would not be speaking. Mary Kay would not exist. And the Mary Kay dream would never have become a reality.
"'Free enterprise means different things to different people. To me it means individual liberty, which implies individual economic freedom, as envisioned by our founding fathers. The earliest leaders of this nation were determined to set up a free citizenry rooted in the natural law of supply and demand with minimal state and federal interference. They envisioned the right of everyone to succeed or fail according to his or her own initiative, drive, and ability. Since that original dream of our founding fathers, we’ve come a long way as a nation. We have become much more sophisticated. We have grown and capitalized on the free enterprise system, and we have established a standard of living never before known to mankind.
"'After American farmers have fed everyone in the United States, they export 60 percent of their wheat and rice to the rest of the world. They also produce more than half the entire world’s wheat crop. American farmers have achieved this stupendous feat even though since 1940 the number of farms and farm workers has decreased by two thirds. In fact, despite fewer farms and farmers, America’s agricultural output during that time has increased by 75 percent.'
"Although the message is from one of Richard’s earlier speeches, only the numbers have changed. Our faith in America has never wavered. When he spoke, my eyes filled with tears. I felt proud—proud of my son and proud to be an American. And I think everyone in the 7,500-seat, capacity-filled Dallas Convention Center shared that pride. America offers such unlimited opportunity.
"This speech was only one of hundreds delivered to Mary Kay audiences that have contained strong overtones of patriotism. I know in some circles it’s not considered good taste to wave the flag at company gatherings. I disagree. We think it’s a healthy emotion, and a message that can never be told too often." (Ash, The Mary Kay Way, pp. 138-139)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteRobert Luddy, founder of CaptiveAir, a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilators, offers an example of filial piety in his book, Entrepreneurial Life. "My maternal grandfather was a partner in a men’s clothing store called 'Westfall’s,' in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He began working in the early 1900s and was successful because of his people skills and business acumen. By the time he retired in 1950, he had acquired fifty percent of the stock in the company and its retail building. He encouraged my siblings and me to find jobs early, as he believed in the lessons they taught regarding how one should interact with people. He was delighted to share his business experiences and knowhow.
"My father was a mathematician, machinist, and self-taught engineer. His hours working for the Pennsylvania Railroad were long. He was in management, which sometimes required him to cover two shifts. His work ethic was a great example for me, as he had great pride in his work and performance." (Luddy, Entrepreneurial Life, ch. 1)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteOver the course of his career, Heinz Ketchup founder H. J. Heinz acknowledged his deep debt to the lessons and values given to him by his parents, as Quentin Skrebac explains in H. J. Heinz: A Biography. "At age sixty, H. J. Heinz would reminisce of his parents: 'I had an honest father and a mother with a Christ like spirit in whom I had wonderful faith. She could handle me because she knew how to inspire me; because she knew what to say and how. I lived under her many sayings.' Anna Margaretta's sayings were often a combination of German proverbs, bible sayings, and family traditions. Her sayings were recorded in Heinz's notebooks and later posted at the plant for his employees. One of his favorites was a variation of the golden rule: 'Always remember to place yourself in the other person's shoes.' Anna was domineering in all aspects of the young Heinz's life. He learned honesty from his father, but most of his Christian principles were directly related to Anna's training. Throughout his life, he pointed to his mother as the source of his success. In his will, H. J. Heinz noted: 'This legacy was left me by my consecrated mother, who was of strong faith, and to it I attribute any success I may have attained during my life." (Skrebac, Jr., H. J. Heinz, p. 32)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteEven as owner of a successful international food company, H. J. Heinz remained deeply devoted to his home city of Pittsburgh, as Quentin Skrabec, Jr. explains in H. J. Heinz: A Biography. "Unlike other Pittsburgh industrialists, such as Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, Henry Phipps, and Henry Clay Frick, Heinz remained in Pittsburgh after he became successful. Heinz had deep family roots in the area, and he favored those roots for the center of his company. Even today, the Heinz family is extremely loyal to this rust belt city. H. J. Heinz and son Howard fought for decades to make their Pittsburgh a great city." (178)
Heinz would carry out this fight through his involvement with three organizations, the Civic Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Commission. "He started on the chamber in 1903 and rose to vice-president. He also was assigned and later became president of the Pittsburgh Flood Commission." (179) (Skrabec, Jr., H. J. Heinz, pp. 178 and 179)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteDuring the First World War, Heinz placed his energies and resources at the disposal of his country, even as German-Americans like him faced significant wartime prejudice. "In America, Heinz plants became...tied to war production. H. J. and Howard took on visible leadership, including war bond drives. Heinz and the Heinz employees were one of the nation's highest war stamp purchasers, and Pittsburgh was third in the nation per capita in the purchase of war stamps. H. J. Heinz personally attended these rallies. What had to be painful for the Heinz family was the war backlash against American-Germans. Even their factories were suspected of sabotage. German socialist immigrants did play a role in anti-war demonstrations, which made many suspicious of anyone with a German heritage. Still, Heinz remained one of Pittsburgh's most trusted citizens, and his war efforts did a lot to turn public opinion favorably toward the American-Germans." (Skrabec, Jr., H. J. Heinz, p. 204)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteHeinz Ketchup founder H. J. Heinz's business practices and political involvements reflected his devotion to country above corporate profits, as Quentin Skrabec, Jr. explains in H. J. Heinz: A Biography. "Heinz stood firmly behind the Republican progressivism that took on monopolies and trusts. He was an international businessman with extensive world sales, but his American operations were first priority. Heinz was at odds with the Republican Party bankers who wanted free trade and expanded imports because they made money on trade. Heinz was also in a position to profit from the elimination of tariffs, but he put the nation first. Patriotism took priority over all business concerns." (Skrabec, Jr., H. J. Heinz, p. 258)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteThroughout his career, J. C. Penney founder James Cash Penney retained deep reverence both for his parents and for the 19th Century agrarian American way of life they represented, as David Kruger explains in J. C. Penney: The Man, the Store and American Agriculture. "For both of Penney's parents, agricultural life and faith in God were inseparable. Penney's father soon augmented his farming activities by volunteering to pastor a rural church more than twelve miles away, delivering weekly sermons to its Primitive Baptist congregation. In hindsight, Penney came to see his father's agricultural activities not just as a source of income for the family's livelihood but as the sustainment of his Christian ministry. 'My father was in reality a Baptist clergyman,' Penney remarked in 1926, 'but was compelled to find a means of livelihood aside from the ministry because the congregations which he served did not, at the time, believe in paying their ministers.'
"Penney deeply admired his father as both a minister and a farmer. Even after the family relocated to a house in Hamilton [MO] while his father continued to operate the farm, Penney could not resist the appeal of his father's agricultural activities throughout his childhood. 'During all these years (living in town), I had been spending my Saturdays, holidays, and summer vacations on my father's farm,' he reflected in 1926. 'Its operations fascinated me and I returned to it always, attracted by its many activities. Indeed, if I could not get a ride from home to the farm, it was no burden to me to walk the two and a half miles.' Penney's affection for the farm was as much about his father as it was about the farm itself. Even as an old man, Penney vividly recalled childhood memories of walking hand in hand with his father across the largely bluegrass pastures, their conversations invariably mixing agriculture and Christian morality, as well as a Protestant work ethic strongly rooted in honesty, self-reliance, thrift, and doing right by others. The crux of these teachings would largely inform the eventual values of the J. C. Penney Company as well as Penney's own agricultural projects in later years." (Kruger, J. C. Penney, pp. 15-16)