Our life is generally three acts; youth, early adulthood, and adulthood. Though we do not recognize it initially, each act builds upon the last, and the choices we make change the trajectory of where we’re heading. The vast majority of our life is spent in adulthood, living a life as the person we were formed to be.

As a child, though we do not fully appreciate it, life is as carefree as it gets. We have to do chores and study, but this is a small part of our day. Our job is to learn and play. To experience our limitations, find the outer boundaries of rules, and choose time and again to do the right thing. We don’t have to worry about our next paycheck, where the next meal will come from, or even what we will do tomorrow. All of those things are taken care of for us.

Early adulthood is where we start to comprehend how our choices take us in different directions. This is a period of uncertainty; we know who we are and what we ought to do, but how we will spend our lives is not yet in focus. Our career, our relationships, where we will live, and many other unknowns create a certain sense of anxiety and even impatience. We wait for our life to start, even though it has already begun.

Adulthood is where we gain certitude and perspective, but also face our greatest challenges. We are the people we chose to become, and now must contend with difficulties in our personal, financial, relational, and professional lives. We know that impermanence is embedded in life, and we ride each wave as it comes through.

The reality is, each of us in adulthood will enter into family or religious life. While these two journeys diverge in key ways, the skill and virtue that are required to be successful in each remain the same. We must be masters of the cardinal virtues and participants in the theological virtues to be the men we were made to be.

It is the role of the father, spiritual or familial, to help the sons and daughters who follow in our footsteps to gain this understanding as early in their journey as possible. Life is difficult, but it doesn’t have to be hard, too. The earlier a child recognizes the power of virtue, the stronger that virtue will be when they enter early adulthood and beyond. They will arrive not anxious because they don’t know who they are or what they are to do. They will instead be filled with anticipation for the great adventure about to unfold.

It is never too late to do the right thing, and even a child who fails to build virtue early in life can rediscover its wisdom as an adult. For the children under our care, however, it is another great gift to preserve them from unnecessary suffering and insecurity by showing them today the power of virtue to unlock their destiny.