Values and Ethics Reflections - Essay Example

Values & Ethics Reflection Paper: Submission

Values are lifestyle priorities that lie behind all the choices people make. Thus, values lie at the very heart of the life we have established for ourselves through the choices we have made. Hence, through values, we are able to express what is significant in our life, and when we are true to our values, the lifestyle that we live is our mien of these values. On the other hand, ethics influence how we are anticipated to live our values. Therefore, knowing a person’s ethical stance informs the public how that person will live their values, and knowing their values gives them a general idea of what they want to do in their life. The difference between ethics and values is that ethics constrain while values motivate. In this paper, I reflect on my ethics and values. First the paper focuses on the overall picture of my values and ethics. Second, it focuses on my ethical perspective by drawing on several ethical frameworks. And third, it offers a conclusion.

As an immigrant in this country, I have always believed that my personal values are beliefs that are important to me. My values are based on family, love, happiness, and success. I believe in hard work, family, loyalty, objectivity, and friendship. These values make me feel complete. Loyalty upsurges the durability of a relationship, and objectivity countenances me to make decisions based on facts instead of emotions and politics. My mother through her actions taught me to always put my family first, and to appraise the ethics of my prospective actions with an ends-based approach by bearing in mind the effects for the rest of my family (Gower, 2008). My mother’s goal has always been to protect her family and make sure they are happy. She always tells us, me and my brother, to support each other always and nurture our friendship further. She says the result will be a resilient bond.

Nonetheless, other personal values that I hold close to my heart and try to live by is integrity and humility. Humility allows me to be dispossessed of any sense of entitlement. It enables me to accept things as liable –in other words ‘things need not to be, but they are’ – and in so being, I am able to make peace with my place in the greater pattern of things. It is through this lens I am able to recognize and receive everything as grace, and this comprises where I am today and the things that happen in my life as being grace-filled. Integrity on the other hand, enables me to keep myself together, be morally uncompromising and consistent in the active pursuit of my other values and principles, around which my intentions and actions coincide and bind. Integrity is all about telling the truth in the life I lead. These values are based on my faith and love I have for myself.

I believe the effects of my family and culture have substantially influenced my beliefs and values. Existing studies have shown the importance of family interactions on personality and behavior on younger people. This is because young people tend to imitate the older people in their lives as the children are yet to become independent. A child’s personality can also be influenced by cultural factors. The culture which one grows in can affect their happiness, behavior, personality, and morality. I believe since as a young child and till now I have a close relationship with my family, I grew imitating their behaviors and actions. This increased the love and value I had on them. Conversely, having experienced many challenges in Venezuela, to the extent of immigrating, I came to know the importance of love, integrity, humility, happiness, and relationships.

Even so, on the other hand, my personal ethics are shaped by my spiritual and religious beliefs. I grew up in a Christian family, and thus, from a young age, I was instilled with the belief in God and His teachings. As I am growing older, I have come to learn that a spiritual relationship and journey with God cannot be easily given by others as it is personal. Hence, my personal ethics and beliefs are still being developed and shaped as I continue on my personal journey with God. My ethical beliefs have undergone some changes because some conducts which in the past I perceived acceptable, I no longer perceive them like that. For instance, I have very profound passion for every person or organization that I get involved with. But, this passion has more than a few times led me to communicate in a manner which is considered as disrespectful, especially when I see things going the wrong way.

Although I personally believe being disrespectful is unethical, many people tend to misinterpret my communication based on the tone of my voice. One time in an organization where I was volunteering in, I could not hold my disbelief when I saw my team members make the bad decision. I tried my best to delve in and correct the mistake. However, my team members failed to listen. I stormed out of the office (maybe because of the passion I had for the business) even though later I made excuses for my behavior. This however has changed, I have come to realize some behaviors are unacceptable regardless of the justification one has. I have come to realize my personal ethical beliefs crashed with my professional ethical beliefs. Besides, my ethical beliefs include values like honesty, love, respect, and fairness. I try to consider these values whenever I am making a decision to avoid creating a dilemma. My personal values have become the basis for differentiating between right and wrong.

Demonstrating a rule-based approach and siding with the deontological philosophers, my mother has taught me that being self-centered, dishonest, and disrespectful is ethically wrong, regardless of the outcomes. To help others, my mother would always act upon her strong sense. Her actions have shaped my ethical perspectives. Today, my actions are always ethically based on my motives. My mother’s actions have influenced me to apply the rights approach –to respect human dignity, to take into consideration the rights of the people, and to avoid using people as a means to an end (Valasquez et al., 1996). I believe that having an ethical intent and following the right rules is a better path for my ethical behavior than realizing the right results (Mackinnon and Fiala, 2018). I believe duties are defined by rational thoughts, and therefore, my ethical behaviors have to arise from doing such duty.

Nevertheless, my commitment to success and accomplishment, hard-work, excellence, and knowledge has been largely inspired by my father’s insistence to move past his modest background and drive to distinction within his career/profession. My father, who was raised by my grandfather in their small village in Venezuela, endured teasing from other peers simply because they thought he was poor and dirty. Since no one in his family had ever gone to college, my dad and his brothers were not expected to do so. He and other students who came from poor backgrounds were eventually kicked out of school, and this became the end of their education. However, we did get the chance to move to the United States. Here, my father worked extra hard to make ends meet. In regards to my father’s education and goals, he demonstrated egoism – rational self-centeredness and attention on what would offer most of him in the long run (Mackinnon and Fiala, 2018).

My father’s hard work has told me a different ethical perspective –patience. I can now practice patience (which is a virtue) by cultivating on different attitudes; (a) perspective that everything depends on interdependent conditions (b) perspective of feelings close to the one who harms me (c) perspective of fully embracing sentient beings in my heart (d) awareness of impermanence (e) perspective of suffering (Kueichi, 2001). I can now experience the world in a manner I never knew I could before. The hardships of being an immigrant are quite obvious, but through patience, I have tried to reconcile my ethics (which were installed at home –Venezuela), and the new ethics I have learned here. I have understood that this is a new culture, and I have to adopt according to and in respect with the codes of conduct which are in place. I have learned to draw a line between my personal and cultural values. I have also tried to keep diversity at the center of my decisions.

At school, whenever I am faced with a difficult situation, I try to make ethical decisions and I do often center my decisions on the utilitarian approach to figure out what is right. I do believe in results. I also believe my actions have to maximize happiness among the members whom the decision concerns. From an ethical perspective, and by comparing results, I would choose the decision which would yield the greatest amount of usefulness, happiness (Gower, 2008). This ethical perspective has largely been inspired by my friend’s father who is a doctor. He always uses utilitarian approaches to make decisions. For example, in one, he was faced with a situation where he had to save the baby or the mother. In this case, he never used a rule-based approach, but rather focused on the consequences of his actions. That is why, he always recommends a virtue-based approach as it examines the individual actor instead of the action itself.

Nevertheless, besides my family guiding my ethical perspective, they have also shaped and molded me into the person I am today especially my father and mother. They have always been there for me. Even in hard times when I felt life had no meaning, my parents have always been there to encourage and help me pick up the pieces. They have strengthened me, provided for me, sheltered me, educated me, and assisted me whenever I needed help. When I loosed a close friend to me some years ago I was devastated. It was hard to get past the pain. But, today, I am dedicated and look for self-improvement. I do understand the world around me. I am a stronger person. Today, I place a special emphasis on the pursuit of excellency, maintenance of personal integrity, love of family, acceptance of responsibility, and realization of ambitious goals. With regards to my actions, I have high expectations of myself. I have learned to reflect on who I am and how that compares to my best possible self.

In the future, I would like to be a good person with morals, integrity, and honor. I want to live by the values that my parents have instilled in me, and the values that I hold dear to me. I would like to live with compassion, respect, honesty, and peacemaking. I believe if you are honest with yourself and others your life becomes more stress free, and I would like to be happy in the future. I want to live with respect because I also want to be respected. I would like to live by the virtue of peacemaking because I cannot stand conflict. Also, in the future, I want to be optimistic and look for a larger purpose behind my actions. With this optimism, I am certain I will be able to make a difference in the society. I now and in the future is just the same person. Today, I do strive to live by the values that I adore, and I would not like this person to change in the future.