Thomas More’s life and, more specifically, his choice to die for his beliefs provide the obvious lesson attached to most martyrs: that remaining steadfast in your faith can give you many hardships, but nothing is more important. However, a more general lesson can be found as well. More had a successful career, extending to an overall successful life. It was his beliefs and his steadfastness in them that made him stand out and even advanced his career. And while it was those same beliefs that ultimately led to his death, he never wavered. Applying the situation to today’s world, it is less likely that staying firm in your beliefs, religious or otherwise, will end in death, but it could very well cause other negative effects such as losing a job or losing friends. This is very much an important lesson, but from where I find more applicable meaning, is how he advanced, not despite his beliefs, but because of them. Even though the Catholic faith was very common during his life, most were not as adamant about following and living their faith as he was. This made Thomas More different, and he knew it. But he was not afraid of his differences, he embraced them, and even though it was not his goal, his differences led to his advancement before they led to his
Thomas More’s life and, more specifically, his choice to die for his beliefs provide the obvious lesson attached to most martyrs: that remaining steadfast in your faith can give you many hardships, but nothing is more important. However, a more general lesson can be found as well. More had a successful career, extending to an overall successful life. It was his beliefs and his steadfastness in them that made him stand out and even advanced his career. And while it was those same beliefs that ultimately led to his death, he never wavered. Applying the situation to today’s world, it is less likely that staying firm in your beliefs, religious or otherwise, will end in death, but it could very well cause other negative effects such as losing a job or losing friends. This is very much an important lesson, but from where I find more applicable meaning, is how he advanced, not despite his beliefs, but because of them. Even though the Catholic faith was very common during his life, most were not as adamant about following and living their faith as he was. This made Thomas More different, and he knew it. But he was not afraid of his differences, he embraced them, and even though it was not his goal, his differences led to his advancement before they led to his