Or, if we do not, we know that we ought to. We have setbacks, but the quest continues. We all, I suggest, spend our lives constantly seeking to become better persons. What my father did for me that Saturday, and what my parents and other relatives did for me every day of my childhood, was to nurture me. Whatever potential for excellence they divined in me, they sought to nurture, that is, they tried to provide the basis for my own individual achievement.
Nurture is a virtue, the giving and receiving of which is essential to the moral life.
Aristotle described friendship as seeking the good of the other, but the kind of good that nurture seeks is the self-realization of the other in any of the arts of life, whether knowledge, productivity, aesthetics, or moral acuity. Nurture requires a complex and subtle relationship, usually with some degree of intimacy. It respects the individuality of the other person. Think, for example, of how parents enjoy describing the unique personalities of each of their children. Nurture is not, however, doting kindness.