Unless you have a family member who works peripherally for the federal government or if you were planning on visiting the Statue of Liberty in the next couple of days, odds are that you are not directly affected by the government shutdown that began on Oct. 1.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care.

The shutdown, on the larger scale, has almost unpredictable political, social, cultural, diplomatic and economic consequences. But, on a smaller scale, it speaks to a fundamental problem within American politics, and maybe even American culture in general.

Disagreement without an ability to collaborate seems to be at the heart of the issue. While ideological differences are another key component of Congress’ inability to arrive at an appropriate solution, what is really at the heart of the shutdown is an unwillingness, on both sides, to settle their ideals with reality. This manifests itself in the constant slew of criticism, public attacks and finger-pointing that we see broadcasted on the cable news networks, printed in major publications and even, in the digital age, over social media.

While their integrity, their willingness to stand up for their beliefs, would, in other cases, be a lauded virtue, in this case, it actually becomes destructive not only to their own goals but even to the American society as a whole.

Maybe they should take an ethics class as part of Fordham’s core and learn about Aristotle’s idea of virtue in “Nicomachean Ethics:” “virtue is a mean, in that it aims at that which is the mean.” Being overzealous in your desires to the point of blatant disregard of others’ is not virtue. Neither is being passive in your own beliefs. The virtue of integrity is somewhere between headstrong and spineless, somewhere our representatives in Congress are not.

Maybe they should even take an Eloquenita Perfecta class and learn how to organize their ideas and express them in a responsible, graceful and proper manner.

While it is obvious that our congressmen have a lot to learn from both us and the Fordham core (who knew?), there is also something we can learn from them.

As we go out into the world, let’s all remember the time that the United States government shut down because groups of people were blinded by their own beliefs. Let’s remember to use reason, to use speech, to use effective expression to resolve our issues, especially when the country is depending on us.