Ethical Principles You Follow, Essay Example

Few moments call my attention deviates from the existing problems clouding my mind. Moments when sitting somewhere alone far away from the source of my existing predicaments that seems not viable to resolve, where only me and the environs that nature can offer inhabits. Where I am nowhere near the headaches and pain that seems to find its way and creep persistently towards the unwary me. To get away from everything around, it does sound good to have something like that. Yet it goes on, it can pierce the silence of the one thing from within me that has been kept inactive for a long time, wanting to be let out of its cage and reach me from the depths of its core. Finally, I let everything out. The grief, the anger, the disturbances, everything that has left me crippled and mutilated. All that is left is pleasure and joy. Happy that I finally let myself feel differently other than the ones I keep on holding onto. Glad that I have something more within myself than what has been constantly controlling my life. I see, once in a complete state of grace, nobody’s there but me, nobody’s there to tell me what to do and where I have to go, and nobody’s there to interrupt me on moments when I hark back to all the fond reminiscences I shared with my dearer ones, my relatives. A sense of ‘not good enough’ to bring everything back the way they used to.

My percipient pilgrimage in the realm of human values began in the early years of my life when I started working. This period of less than two months proved determinative in my decision to spend my professional life in learning. Before finalizing my resolve, I considered it obligatory to seek permission from my revered father, who had dreamt of seeing me as a lawyer so that I could help others to fight against injustice. I felt that his faith in God and his life being full of compassion, charity and ethical principles will surely accord me his kind approval. As I spoke to him about his, I was amazed and amused to observe his face so radiant, luminous and effulgent. Spontaneously descended the words from his lips, “education makes people good and I will be happy to see you doing this noble job”.

This man brought richness into my life. I learned many things from him, including the power of a long-term relationship, the power of a leader who has a genuine passion for his people and his work, and the value and import of developing and empowering younger people. As I started to consider retirement, he convinced me that when a person turns over the reins, it’s good if he has enough spirit to on a lesser job and still glory in it.

I also saw that my parents’ religious convictions helped sustain them, both personally and professionally. My father was raised a Quaker, and he used Quaker percepts in building teams and avoiding confrontation when possible. Perhaps as a result, his coworkers and employees had tremendous loyalty to him. My mother, raised as a Congregationalist, changed her religious allegiance over time, becoming a Presbyterian and then, on my father’s faith, a Catholic converts. I shared part of that journey with her, staying a Presbyterian and, in more recent years, becoming an oblate in a Benedictine monastery. From my mother I received a deep sense of right and wrong and fairness. I also shared with her a sense of the more mystical aspects of religion, which appeared to be totally alien to my father.

At a certain point, peers begin shaping one’s values. In my experience, values among my young male friends had an almost Spartan nature. We were expected to be loyal, truthful, strong, courageous – and to keep our emotional life out of sight. Through athletics, socializing, storytelling and other, more risky activities, we were affirmed as young males. Our role models tended to be warlike, with physical prowess. The softer, more lasting virtues were acquired later. Further in on life, we find mentors who help shows us the way into more substantive trust relationships. The deeper sense of institutional trust takes time to develop. And today, at least in some institutions, it may never occur. This cannot be laid solely on the institutions.

Trust takes time to establish, and is derived from protracted, consistent behavior that I come to depend on. The current reduction of trust in institutions derives in part from downsizing as well as the tendency of professionals to job hop. Instincts of self-preservation reinforce personal autonomy and a reluctance to turn my fate over to an organization. I also question the effectiveness of ‘fungible’ corporate leadership that can come into an organization and effectively take over without building sustaining leaderships.

Throughout my professional life and post-retirement period, the focus was on human values for my students and others with whom I came into contact with but more so for myself. In this process my concepts to deal with the subject have changed from Moral Education to Ethical Instructions, to Value Education, to Value Orientation and to Value Creation. At present, I stand for Value Appropriation, which signifies unique taste of the invaluable fruit of human values based on my earlier experience, as I am going to retire, I look at the true nature of man, the whole man, not divided in anyway, the true global citizen who could boast of, “Global Society”, the whole world is my home.