The virtue that is on my mind today is Mercy. Mercy is the child of Temperance and Compassion; when the virtues of Chivalry are seen as a system of behavior for the powerful, it is one of the most important aspects.
Some opportunities to display Mercy are obvious, while others are harder to see. Mercy is pulling a shot when your opponent is defenseless. It is forgiving one who has wronged you. It is not taking all that you can so that there is enough for all.
At its heart, Mercy is not exploiting an advantage that you have over another, whether that advantage was earned or a product of circumstance. We all have opportunities every day to show Mercy. It is easy to know what words will hurt another, where their wounds and weaknesses lie. With our friends it is easy to ignore these, for Compassion toward our friends is second nature. With strangers there is greater temptation: a driver trying to merge, a shopper eyeing the same bolt of fabric, a poorly considered fashion choice. In these cases Mercy requires a conscious choice to take or keep what we see as ours, or to seek humor at the expense of others. Harder still to show Mercy to those who we actively dislike, or who we feel have done us harm. We feel superior, or filled with righteous indignation. But what value is there in superiority, what truth to our righteousness if we spend our moral coin on vengeance and insult?
It is easy to attack the weak, the other, the absent. But do our ideals not tell us to defend the weak, to offer hospitality to the stranger, to show Honor in our words and deeds when no one is there to see? Show your strength by showing Mercy.