Moderation is a virtue that has grown rare in modern society. Essentially
it calls for limitation of demands, reduction of desires and the avoidance of
extremes, so that in the last resort it demands discipline. Recently we have
seen a dispute over fuel and its ramifications, brought about by the failure
of moderation and the operation of greed.
Many people, perhaps most people, are fuelled by the desire to acquire as much
as possible of material goods in the shortest time, irrespective of possible
repercussions upon other people. Anyone failing to live by this creed may be
despised as weak and devoid of ambition. In this attitude we follow the lead
of our political end lousiness leaders, who openly pursue the policy of push
and grab. Keen competition, we are taught, is excellence and the main contribution
to the welfare of society, since it is in essence every man for himself, and,
as Lord Macaulay stated, “moderation in war is imbecility”. He might
well have equated our competitive madness with warfare.
As we have seen, when supplies of fuel, food or domestic necessities threaten
to become scarce, people stockpile them, to make sure their standard of living
will be maintained, however their neighbours may suffer. When huge transnational
organisations are discontented with their profits, they merge with their competitors
to form even mightier ones, to the extent that governments have to bow to their
demands and our talk of democratic decisions grows meaningless. In matters of
health and medical treatment, both doctors and patients increase their demands
for remedies. When the demand becomes immoderate, consumption of drugs increases
and the incidence of adverse effects and waste follows suit. With moderation,
all these crises may be avoided.
Philosophers have often pronounced on the significance of moderation. Early
in the 17th century Bacon recognised the difficulty when he remarked: “Nil
moderatum vulgo gratum est”, meaning that mobs do not welcome moderation.
Leigh Hunt in the 19th century agreed: ‘‘A playful moderation in politics
is just as absurd as a remonstrative whisper to a mob.” Much earlier, St
Augustine recognised that: “To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect
moderation.” Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter and then of Norwich in the early
years of the 17th century, at a time of great civil disturbances during which
his outspoken opinions earned him a spell in the Tower of London and his ejection
from office, expressed his idea of moderation in a notable sentence. “Moderation,”
he wrote, “is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all
virtues.” The metaphor, it seems to me, is singularly apt in all its aspects.