[breckinloggins]

I look at it the other way around: the reason these were so important to Franklin was that he knew perfectly well how bad he was at them.

Somewhere along the line we've conflated valuing virtue with already being virtuous. The hypocrisy of most "moral movements" doesn't help, of course.

[emodendroket]

Sure, we all fall short of our own ideals. But when your own lifestyle goes so far, gleefully, in the opposite direction you have to ask yourself if it's really a virtue you care about.