Is Moderation Always a Virtue?

Probably Not.

Kurt Sutter doesn’t think so:

“I’m a guy who has problems with moderation. All or nothing. Binge and purge. Kill or be killed. Gray is not a color I wear well. I should be dead. I know that. I should not be successful. I know that too. My daily existence is a toss of the coin — one side, fear, the other side, gratitude.”

Kurt Sutter is an American screenwriter/director/producer/actor who isn’t an expert in moderation or anything, I just like his quote. Sutter threw away moderation in favor of extremism, and it must have worked, what with his 10-million-dollar net worth.

The dictionary definition of mod-er-a-tion looks something like this:

…and addresses moderation in purely satanic terms…”the practice of making something less extreme, intense, or violent.” Obviously, unsavory practices like chewing tobacco or corporal punishment best exist in an excess of less. “Moderate” amounts of tobacco can still give you cancer. “Moderate” amounts of corporal punishment can still result in broken, angry, violent people who hate those who punish them more than they regret their crimes. “Moderate” amounts of heroin will likely result in addiction. Clearly, not everything is “better” in moderation.

Take a look at the synonyms: self-restraint, self-control, self-discipline (handy, when avoiding heroin) and relaxation, reduction, abatement, weakening slackening, tempering. The synonyms are an antithesis — self-disciple often requires enormous energy while relaxation or abatement intuitively requires an energy reduction. Moderation is extremely situational.

Shortly after moving to California, I attended an EDA (Eating Disorder Anonymous) meeting. It was very much like an AA meeting, or at least how AA meetings are portrayed on television,

“Hi everyone. My name is Sarah, and I have an eating disorder,” I said robotically.

Learning to Embrace Moderation (Sometimes)

“Hi, Sarah,” chanted a circle of mismatched people who you would never think would share common interests, much less a common pain. There was the young blonde girl who starved herself…