If you were to take a poll of famous topics for leadership talks, temperance would not rank in the top ten.  For most people temperance has a negative connotation, as if it were something that would stifle our energies or keep us from the fullness of life.  St. Thomas Aquinas has a very different vision for temperance.  According to him, temperance is necessary for the full life and has the power to guarantee that we attain the real good and excellence for which we are called.  This is why studying it is so important for us today.