Living Values

LOVE

It is an “individual and personal caring that goes both beneath and beyond loyalty and respect”. Each of us must be in our own company all of the time, no vacations or breaks, so we must try to grow continually to create in us a person with healthy self esteem, self love, confidence, healthy pride, assurance and self concept. We need to live in a body that is as stress free as we can make it in body, mind and spirit.

Celebrate your wonderful, unique, splendid qualities. You know you have a bunch! Recall each of them, cherish them, and treat yourself because of them you can develop. Love for friends, neighbors, even adversaries and a prioritized, lifelong commitment of love for family.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

I Corinthians 13:4-8a

RESPECT

What is respect?

Respect means showing regard and appreciation for the worth of someone or something.
It means honour and esteem.
It includes respect for self, respect for the rights and dignity of all persons, and respect for the environment that sustains life.
Respect keeps us from hurting what we ought to value.

Why is respect important?

Much of the universal values and virtues that contribute to the good of the individual and society and affirm our human dignity are derived from the value of respect and the value of responsibility.
We need respect to collaborate and to have a peaceful world.

Children with respect

Listen
Keep unkind thoughts to themselves
Speak kindly to teachers and others
Play fairly and wait their turn
Raise their hands before talking
Say “please” and “thank you”
Clean up after themselves
Share

Proverbs and maxims

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness. (Seneca)
I must respect the opinions of others even if I disagree with them. (Herbert H. Lehman)

Heroes

Abraham Lincoln – respected his enemies and modeled understanding, forgiveness, and kindness. He was committed to restoring the union and freeing the slaves.

Set goals for yourself

Respect for yourself
Respect for other people
Respect for property
Respect for rules
Respect for differences
Respect for the environment

Respect on the telephone

Ask the person you are calling if it is a good time to talk
Don’t call friends or family during the hours around dinner time or too early or too late
Keep background noise down
Limit the amount of time you talk
Take accurate phone messages
Don’t interrupt
Say “please” and “thank you”

Put respect into action

Practice the Golden Rule
Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Practice saying “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me”
Make a point of not teasing and encourage your friends not to
Be patient with yourself and others when a mistake is made
Practice good table manners
Make an effort not to gossip
Make an effort to not swear
Be courteous toward everyone
Learn how to properly introduce yourself

Community service ideas

Entertain senior citizens at a retirement home
Correspond with students from another country and learn about each other’s culture
Volunteer to help the disabled
Share with another school the meaning of respect by exchanging art projects, writings, and other ideas. Try to exchange visits

“The Golden Rule”

“Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.”
The Golden Rule urges all people to treat one another with dignity and respect.

Remember

Respect means using good manners; being courteous and polite, speaking to others in a kind voice; using polite body language.
Respect means showing consideration toward other people (including your elders, parents, guardians, teachers, peers, siblings, other family members, employers, and people in authority).
Respect means honoring other people’s wants, needs, ideas, differences, beliefs, customs, and heritage.
Respect means caring for other living things and the earth (animals, plants, the environment).
Respect means obeying the rules, laws, and customs of your family, faith, community, and country.

Other activities

Write a poem about respect. What does it mean to you? Or write a story about an incident where someone shows respect or disrespect. Perform it as a skit.
Make a list of disrespectful words and phrases. Replace with compliments, congratulations, and encouragement.
Learn about netiquette or proper behavior using the computer for communication.
Learn about etiquette for different occasions such as meeting new people, giving a party, eating a meal, writing a thank you note, participating in sports.

SIMPLICITY

It is the freedom from artificial ornament, pretentious style, or luxury; plainness; as, simplicity of dress, of style, or of language; simplicity of diet; simplicity of life.

Simplicity can best be achieved by paring your life down to its essentials–those things, activities and relationships you either truly need or genuinely cherish. It involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual.

Some of the simplicity values that are important to people who live simply are:

-Limiting material possessions to what is needed and/or cherished.

-Meaningful work, whether paid or volunteer

-Quality relationships with friends and family.

-Joyful and pleasurable leisure activities.

Living simply does not require adherence to a rigid set of rules, but rather it challenges the individual to live consciously and deliberately. Simplicity is not a destination. It is a life long journey that is not always easy, but ultimately deeply satisfying.

TOLERANCE

It is an attitude which implies the acceptance of a different way of thinking and behaving from one’s own. The National Council for Children through the promotion of the Living Values programme and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is aiming to help schools and teachers promote values of tolerance and respect for human rights amongst their students.

Tolerance, which we sometimes use in place of respect and mercy, generosity and forbearance, is the most essential element of moral systems. It also is a very important source of spiritual discipline, and a celestial virtue of perfected men and women.

Under the lens of tolerance, the merits of believers attain a new depth and extend to infinity; mistakes and faults shrink into insignificance.

All of us expect love and respect, hope for tolerance and forgiveness, and want to be embraced with feelings of liberality and affection.

We expect tolerance and forgiveness from our parents in response to our mischief at home, from our teachers in response to our naughtiness at school, from the innocent victims of our injustice and oppression, from the judge and prosecutor in court, and from the Judge of Judges (God) in the highest tribunal.

RESPONSIBILITY

To take responsibility for our lives means we must take responsibility for our emotions. More specifically, we must take responsibility for our actions which are largely motivated by our thoughts, our values, our fears, our desires, and our beliefs.

Being responsible is very important as one who is responsible can easilly recognize their own faults and merit of actions and thinks of others but not only of oneself. A responsible person fulfills the assigned duty by staying true to the aim. Duties are carried out with integrity and a sense of purpose.

Acting Responsibly:

Personal responsibility in life comes from many expected and unexpected sources and involves partnership and participation, commitment and cooperation. Social and global responsibility requires all the above as well as justice, humaneness, and respect for the rights of all human beings. Particular attention is paid to ensure that benefit is for all without discrimination.

Some interpret responsibility as a burden and fail to see it as personally relevant. It becomes convenient to project it as someone else’s problem. These people den their responsibility, yet when it comes to rights, they are the first in line!

A responsible person perseveres, not stubbornly with a blind focus, but with the motivation of fulfilling the assigned duty by staying true to the aim. When there is the consciousness of being an instrument or a facilitator, a person stays neutral and flexible in his or her role. One remains detached yet has a clear understanding of what needs to be done. When the role is played accurately, there is efficiency and effectiveness which result in satisfaction and contentment at having made a significant contribution.

Responsibility often calls upon humility to help overcome obstacles created by ego. For instance, one acting responsibly does not take over or control the outcome. One acting responsibly also has the maturity to know when a responsibility should be handed to another. A major barrier is becoming too attached to the responsibility. Being over-conscientious leads to worry, doubt, and fear, which can have a crippling effect on decision-making and result in devastating consequences.

Collaboration is Essential

Responsible individuals work in collaboration. That is true for all tasks and especially important in areas which affect the lives of others. Responsible individuals operate on two premises:

1) that all participants have something worthwhile to offer, and

2) that the situation requires a cooperative rather than a competitive environment.

Responsible people do not fall into the traps of inferiority or superiority; they recognize that the optimum outcome cannot depend on one person, one group, or one nation alone.

Responsibility is managing time and resources to bring maximum benefit while accommodating necessary change. Decisions in the consciousness of being responsible for social or global welfare encourage actions which are performed in a selfless way. In taking responsibility for others’ rights, a budget of all asset – mental, physical, and spiritual – needs to be devised. That includes taking into account accumulated and available resources and their efficient and equitable use. Inattention, carelessness, corruption, greed, or lack of judgment result not only in some people or areas receiving nothing, some not enough, and others too much, but also in the unnecessary loss of human lives and natural resources.

Accountability

Whether the act is for world or for individual improvement, when that role and responsibility are accepted, there needs to be an internal support system which ensures that essential qualities are assimilated and put into practical activity. Such is necessary for everyone and especially so for parents, educators, religious leaders, political leaders, and celebrities, as well as trendsetters from various disciplines, since they are all role models of behavior. They have significant roles because they help shape norms which have enormous influence on weaving the fabric of society. One principle of learning is observing the behavior and real-life experience of those we admire and respect. Therefore, it is incumbent upon role models to accept and honor the responsibility of being “examples.” The bigger the part, the greater the concern should be for the message being imparted and its impact on the lives of others.

It has been said that with rights go responsibilities, and within that concept the law of action becomes operable. Each human being is like a star consisting of his or her own small world. Each star has to perceive its own world and look for the balance of rights and responsibilities. Life is the field of action. On that field, each one’s part should be enacted with responsibility and accountability. Those who wear the crown of responsibility embedded with the jewels of rights become the stars with a positive influence on the world!

“As members of the United Nations, we also bear a responsibility towards each other. Finally, we share together a responsibility to the world community for seeing to it that the principles of the Charter and of the international law and procedure which we have slowly but surely been building, are interpreted with judgment as well as with vision, and with moderation as well as with justice.”