Bonanza is an American Western television series (1959-1973). The show is set in the 1860s and centers on the wealthy Cartwright family, who lives in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. Ben Cartwright is a widowed father who has three sons: Adam, Hoss and Little Joe.
In one of the episodes a fighter, Charlie Powers, arrived to the town and tried to pick a fight with Hoss, the stronger Cartwright brother. Hoss did not want to fight and left the place while the professional fighter yelled at him mockingly. His little brother Joe, saw the whole scene and although one of his friends tried to stop him because the man was a professional, he went and hit him in his face and started a fight.
The next scene is at the Cartwright ranch where Hoss is telling his father that he did not want to fight, when Little Joe arrived all hurt. His father laid him down on a big armchair and asked him: “what happened?” Little Joe answered: “I made a big mistake…I swung at Charlie Powers. He was making wise cracks about Hoss and I lost my temper.”
In this scene Joe acted with precipitation which, as St. Thomas says, is a lack of prudence in an action because of failure to consider the advisability of the action.
St. Thomas explains that in every action we must consider: the memory of the past, that is, to use the experience we have from our past actions (for example, if when I did this before I ended up doing something wrong, it is better not to do it again); the understanding of the present (to carefully consider what I am going to do and its advantages or disadvantages); shrewdness in considering the future (to consider the consequences that my action will have); the skillful comparison of alternatives (if it can be done in another, better way, or without exposing myself to a difficult situation, etc.); and finally, docility in accepting the counsel of the wise (which is not necessarily someone who is wiser than me, but perhaps because they are not as emotionally involved as I am, they can see more clearly what is advisable to do)— Little Joe did not heed his friend who tried to stop him, because he was angry that his brother had been humiliated.
As St. Thomas says, skipping these steps and doing what we impulsively want is what makes us fall into precipitation and perform an action in an imprudent manner: “if a man is rushed into action by the impulse of his will or of a passion, without taking these steps, it will be a case of precipitation” (II-II, 53, 3).
Therefore, to avoid acting precipitously, it is important that we take all the necessary time to consider the action we must perform, without skipping any of the steps prescribed by prudence. While it is true that we must not procrastinate in carrying out what has been prudently deliberated, but execute it quickly, we must be slow and take all the necessary time to discern whether what I am about to do is prudent or not.
