Winning the Moral Victory

To make a long and very emotional story short, I got ripped off on the grade of my final paper in one of my classes this summer, which in turn gave me a lower-than-deserved grade in the class overall.  I went and spoke with the professor about it who conceded that he had not honored the strong scholarship of the paper despite some of the flaws in the structure of my paper.  This concession was supposed to lead to him changing my grade in the class.  Now, two months later, the grade is not changed.  I spoke with another professor about it who advised me to let it go and take solace in the fact that I won the moral victory...and to gain closure by getting the paper published.

It's good advice.  I know it is good advice, especially the publishing bit.  However, I keep thinking -- a week later -- about winning moral victories.  What does it mean to have failed to inspire or enact a change while knowing that most people agree that change is necessary...dare I say "moral"?  I'm not trying to conflate issues here (although it is a tendency of mine!), but there seems to be some resonance between the specific way that my personal singular "moral victory" feels like failure and the fact that this situation translates to so many broader issues.  

Have YOU won any moral victories that you might like to share to give me some comfort?  

Just for kicks, I wanted to see if Google could support me in detangling this concept.  Searching for "winning the moral victory" leads you to a bunch of sports-related "moral victory" pages.    Is this language outdated?  Is everyone too afraid of people like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry to talk about moral victories?