Values are those beliefs that we give weight as humans. Each individual has his own set of values in different areas of his life. What are the most important traits that you put so much weight when it comes to relationships, money, work, parenting and leadership?
I have said this many times, that one cannot claim that he knows himself absolutely enough. We would never know how we will react unless put in a circumstance for the first time. The proof of the pudding is truly in the eating, isn’t it? Thus, there is a need for us to be subjected to an entirely new experience to test how we will react or respond to the stimulus.
I have recently been confronted with a situation that tested my personal values.
The title of this post is “Values at Work” for it carries a double meaning to it: my set of values were put into action and it was tested at the workplace too.
I value respect for humans, period. It doesn’t matter whether one is a company president, a messenger, a clerk or a security guard or a less privileged garbage man. Every single human being deserves to be respected. And I wonder how some people can sometimes be so full of themselves that they can sometimes be so focused on their own grandeur to the detriment of how they should actually be treating the other beings.
To me, position or rank only defines a person’s role in an organization. I still believe that respect is accorded to the person, not the rank. For if one respects every single person equally, the rank becomes irrelevant for gaining respect. How can you give “more” respect to one over the other? Isn’t that respect is absolute? Less respect is disrespect.
Respecting people includes respecting how they feel. Every single human being has the capacity and right to feel the whole spectrum of emotions from anger, sadness to jealousy and envy and joy and love. I believe that every person has the right to be angry or mad; but that doesn’t give anyone the license to be rude.
Dignity of a person, rich or poor, must be preserved. And either I contribute to building that or destroying it.
I’m very glad that I have proven once again that I have been gracious in the face of a circumstance that would have hooked anyone to be less dignified.
I’m proud to say that I’ve responded well. I stood up for my rights without having to be like the other party. I stood tall and walked out of the jungle with pride intact knowing that I have a bigger heart and more giving nature.
I’m proud that I do what I preach. I know that I won the best battle this round for I have demonstrated to my followers and most especially to my children, my set of values at work — even without anyone watching my actions, reading my mind nor feeling what’s in my heart.
After all, the biggest victories in life are those that are won in private. I know who I am, what I am capable of and what I have done and didn’t do. After this incident, I won not only the respect of my family and friends but most especially, my own self’s.