You might say that old-fashioned values like honesty, virtue, kindness, respect and courtesy are things of the past. However, I say that society must cling to those values, strengthen the family and encourage common courtesy in every aspect of our lives. If we do not teach our children to treat mankind with respect and kindness, we are doomed to fear the very people that should be our brothers and sisters.
I have a confession to make, I have not been a perfect example of living all the before mentioned values. While reflecting on my life, a flood of memories haunted me of past mistakes, some insignificant, and some quite serious. I still make mistakes, however, this book is a result of personal observations and lessons learned that have dramatically shaped my life. I wrote this book in hope of preventing future generations of repeating the same mistakes that I made. Of the many lessons learned, four stand out in my mind.
1. We learn from our mistakes and our successes.
2. We learn values from someone.
3. We admire someone, and at some time in our lives model ourselves after that person.
4. We grow up, mature, have families of our own, and become a model to someone else. In most cases, adults perpetuate the basic values they learn as children by passing them on to their children, who, pass them on to their children and so on. The key is to pass on the proper values.
Our values are taught, and challenged, in many different ways by television, music, movies, magazines, games, peers, and teachers. Television is getting more violent and contains more sexually explicit material. Music is getting angrier. Virtue and chastity are cast aside and long lasting relationships, based on love, are replaced by casual sexual encounters. The differences between men and women are being less defined and desensitized by re-defining the family.
We have become a society that uses courts of law to settle our differences, gain money or get that few minutes of fame and recognition. We blame “the system” or the government, or anybody else for our actions instead of accepting personal responsibility for them. Murder, rape, assault, and theft fill our news broadcasts. Contention consumes our radio waves. Hate, violence, sex and racism blare from music CDs all across the nation. Disgust for authority and rebelliousness are glamorized.
What happened to old-fashion values? Do young people even know what that means? When did honesty, virtue, kindness, respect and courtesy become old-fashion? Old-fashion values should never die, or go out of style. Maybe they are just forgotten or taken for granted. Maybe as parents, we get tired of struggling with our kids about the same things, over and over again. It may not be enough to simply be a good example, however that is certainly the best way to start, we may actually need to tell our kids what proper values are and how to live by them.
Have you ever heard someone say that they would love to change the world but didn’t know how to do it? It took me a while but I think I have some solutions. I have to start with me, and you have to start with you. We have to be more honest, more virtuous, more respectful, kinder, and more courteous. We need to practice and live by those values in our families, churches, communities, nation, and use them in our dealings with everyone in whom we come in contact.
Changing the world won’t happen overnight. My hope is to change the world one person at a time, starting with me, then to my kids and to their kids, to you and your kids, and so on, until common courtesy is common again!
