Values

Oftentimes in my life I have found a lot of situations where someone and I didn’t see eye to eye on something. I think we can easily think of a time where it's happened to us. Whether we compromised or stood in what we believed in during that moment we had to make a choice from it. You can’t ignore issues and problems for very long before things get out of hand. But with these problems comes a choice.

Before we can talk about the choice we need to make the decision if we really heard and understand what that other person's stance is. You can’t argue with something that you don't understand. So no matter how heated the argument, disagreement, or decision is, you need to listen and understand the other person's point of view. 

This was probably one of the hardest things I had ever had to learn in my life. Growing up, my thought process was to fire first, ask questions later. But during high school and being on teams in FFA I realized why that was so harmful in these situations. The simple act of not hearing the others person's point of view, makes them guard whatever they believe even more. You might as well flip a coin to decide at that point. State office has provided me the opportunity to work on this A LOT… From where we want to go to dinner, to important decisions we had to make as a team. My teammates helped me realize the value of listening to other people before you make a decision. 

When it comes to doing the right thing though, you always have to stand up for how you feel. If a choice is going against your values, or what you believe in, you’re better off to hold your values than choose to side with someone else just because you want to avoid conflict. If we take the integrity away from our morals and values, we might as well not have any. Without morals and values, we aren't a specific person, and we mask ourselves with what we think people want to see. That is why having values and things you believe in is so important to being a human. 

Values and morals go beyond conflict. It's found in our conversations, our friend groups, our hobbies and so much more. Value: “a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life.” If we remove our values or change our values for people, we aren't our genuine self. Core values can be things dependability, religious, and caring, and these are found to be in our lives every day. 

So, whether it's a conversation, disagreement, or a hobby, hold true to your values, and know that they’re what make you, you.

Anthony Taylor