Ethics

ETHICS

Life is full of little choices. There is an old saying: “What is

popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular.”

We don’t always make the right choices or do the right thing. Mistakes are a normal

part of living and to be expected. All people make mistakes; it’s part of living. When we

make a mistake, we gain more self-awareness and, hopefully, learn a life’s lesson. It’s

true! We can learn by our mistakes. What is more important, we can avoid some

mistakes if we take the time to identify our personal values and ethics.

W HAT ARE VALUES AND ETHICS anyway? They are not fancy words to be thought of

carelessly, or worse, not thought of at all!

V ALUES are attitudes and beliefs about

things we think are important in life.

Family time, money, fame, religion, education, health, community service,

independence, honesty are all values. There are other values, of course, depending on

the individual.

If becoming famous is not important to you then fame is not a personal value for you.

Obviously, then, values differ with the person. We don’t always agree with others about

the importance, or value, of some things in life. Family life is extremely important to

some people; there are others who would rather be on their own and allow for very little

family time.

E THICS are the rules of personal

behavior accepted by society.

Ethics are also known as a “code of conduct.” Our personal values contribute to the

strength of our ethics with positive behaviors and positive attitudes.

Our values, and consequently our ethics, are in a continuous development or building

cycle. We are confronted with choices every day. Most often we all make good

choices. Sometimes we may falter. Sometimes we make a wrong decision or a wrong

choice. Learning to make choices begins at birth and is a growing process. We begin

practicing making choices—very simple at first. As we grow and get older, our choices

become more important and become our...