Personal Ethics Development

Personal ethics are not heredity like eye color or height. Personal ethics start to develop when a person is young and change as the person deals with situations in his or her life. For most people, their first encounter with ethics is through their parents and family. In some cases, these ethics coincide with the views of the religious beliefs of the family. Allowing one to see ethics as a journey and not a destination enables one to be influenced by the ethics of those around them. If one did not have, a strong ethical upbringing from family, ethics can be learned from society and the people the individual respects.

An ethical system is based on principles that a person uses to base his or her decisions. Ethical systems tend to vary based on the type of decision but the underlying ethics remain constant. For the author, religion was never a strong influence. A strong male role model, who believed in doing onto others, as one would want done onto oneself, provided this author with the proper path to knowing the difference between right and wrong and the knowledge to use critical thinking skills combine with ethics to make the best possible life decisions. Many people influence young children and help with their ethical upbringing, even if the individual is unaware of how his or her actions persuade others.

The concept of it takes a village to raise a child is evident in the small town upbringing. Although a strong parental influence was present, parents are not the only influence on children. As a small child, a community with values based on hard work, and helping one’s neighbor teaches a child the importance of a family beyond his or her blood relatives. This broadens the child’s horizons and the child begins to see a world larger than his or her own.

Many children can name teachers and coaches who have influenced them and helped them develop their personal ethics, for the author, it was several teachers. Not all lessons show a positive ethical example;...