Personal Values

When I was in 7^th grade I had a history teacher who commented one day that the values we have are the values we’re taught as children. He used the example of slavery. If we(the students) had been born white in the deep south, we wouldn’t have questioned the morality of slavery. It just would be accepted because that was the society we were raised in.

While I can see that as holding true in some instances, I think it was too simplistic a conclusion. I look back to my childhood, and the values and rules I was raised with. I was taught the golden rule, and that prophets of god walked the earth. There was a plan to life, and as long as I did what I was taught, I had nothing to worry about. I never questioned what I was taught or what I saw while I was a child, but as I approached maturity that changed. I was able to recognize inconsistencies and hypocrisy. I began to question why some rules were followed to the exact letter of the law and others weren’t.  I was able to meet people with varying backgrounds and belief systems. I came to see the values I prized in some while learning to despise those held by others.

From these experiences, I’ve come to feel that in most cases, people can develop value systems as adults that differ significantly from those they lived as children. I think the temperament and experiences of an individual have a greater determining factor in the values they embrace as an adult than the societal structure they were raised in. This is especially true now days as people are able to draw upon the internet for information and interaction with others like no other time in the world’s history.

So what values do I hold most dear? Which ones have changed since my childhood, and which ones haven’t?  Which values do I want to help promote in order to make the world a better place? This is definitely a whole other blog…

Living with Intention

While attending my teaching certification classes, I was introduced to a concept that made an impression on me… ‘teaching with intention’. The idea was that teaching had to be a daily deliberate act where an outcome was designed, implemented, and then analyzed for effectiveness. Teachers who taught with intention had greater success in their classrooms than teachers that came in and taught haphazardly.

While I no longer pursue a career in the teaching field, I still find myself thinking about that deliberate intentional approach to a situation -especially of late. The last couple of years of my life have been so hectic as I’ve gone through physical, emotional, and career changes, I didn’t do a lot of self reflection on a large scale. Now that my job has calmed down, and my body isn’t changing on a daily basis, I think it is time to take a critical look and determine where to go from here.

One thing I would like to do is take the concept of ‘teaching with intention’ and change it to ‘living with intention’. I would like to start approaching each day by identifying what challenges or tasks I need to accomplish, and develop a plan towards their achievement.  Then at the end of the day, I want to do some self-reflection to see where I succeeded, and where I didn’t do so well.  

I also want to work towards determining and implementing long range goals. My life is practically half over, and as I look back, I see so much wasted time. I don’t want to look back ten years from now, and feel the same way. It will be hard to change old habits and create new ones, but I don’t know if I can live haphazardly anymore and still have a modicum of self respect.