Cultural Values

Cultural values, personal ethics, and morality are all topics that usually have a different meaning for every individual. My personal ethics, morality, and cultural values have developed throughout the many life lessons that I have learned in my 29 years of life. I can still remember a specific Saturday afternoon at my grandparents' house. I was sitting on my grandpa's lap watching the Dodger game. In between innings my grandfather asked me the question, "Aaron it is time you learn about values and ethics. I want you to grow up to be an upstanding citizen and not a society reject." While at that moment I was a little unsure of what my grandfather was talking about, over the next few years it was moments like those that I began to develop my cultural values, my ethical beliefs, and my moralities. This paper will discuss what I learned from those discussions with my grandfather and other family members as I grew up. This paper will discuss what my values and ethics are and how I apply them in my personal life as well as my business life.

If I were to classify my beliefs, my beliefs would fall into three categories. The first category would be what I call learned beliefs. These are beliefs that I learned from my parents, grandparents, and other significant people in my life. The second category would be what I call religious values. These are the beliefs that I have adopted through my Christianity and my faith that I have developed through that religion. The third and final category would be what I call educational values. These are the values that I have learned throughout my educational career.

Ethics, values, and morals are things that an individual are not born with. In societies and cultures all over the world, families, friends, and other people teach the young generations about these important things. I was lucky enough to have the guidance and support of my grandpa and my father, who taught me so much of my morals, ethics, and values. My learned beliefs consisted of things such as; honesty, fair play, hard work, family values, respect for others, respect for myself, and finally I was taught to do unto others as I would want them to do unto myself. These beliefs helped me as I grew from a child, to a young man, and into a man. As I matured, these core beliefs developed and matured with me. I was then able to use these values in my personal life and in my professional life. For example, a few years ago I witnessed a hit and run accident. The victim was an elderly woman, and the driver who fled the scene was a young kid. It would have been easy for me to drive by as if I saw nothing. However, I felt the right thing would be to check up on the woman, call the police, and wait with the woman till help arrived. It turned out that my call to the police helped arrest the young man before he could do anymore damage. As a result of my lessons from my grandfather and father I was able to make that decision. The reason for that was because of the basic knowledge of good values. I still remember thinking that if I were in the woman's shoes I would want someone to help me too. Learning these values would also prove to be quite valuable in my professional life. I remember at a young age my grandpa telling me that if I was ever in a leadership role that I should never play favorites. When I was managing a club for 24 Hour Fitness, I had an employee who was also a close, personal friend of mine. I discovered that he was cheating on his time card. Though it was only 30 minutes here and there, the bottom line was that he was breaking a rule. I knew that if I confronted him and punished him I would risk losing his friendship. However, I also knew that if I let it go I was going against all of my morals and ethical beliefs. It was a difficult choice, but in the end it turned out to be a win-win situation for both of us; however, my ethical values and beliefs were not simply based on parental teachings.

On top of my learned beliefs, I also had beliefs that were developed from my faith. I became a Christian at a young age, and it is from that faith that I have developed a lot of my values. The basic things like, do not steal, do not commit murder, love your enemy, do not commit adultery, and many other lessons, were a result of the lessons I learned as a Christian. These values are especially applied in my personal and family life. However, they do carry over into my business practices as well. I also try to set a very good example to my employees. I try to practice what I preach to the best of my abilities. Though I am not perfect, I feel that my employees have a firm grasp on the ethical and moral values that I as a boss require of them. I know that in the business world if I cheat and steal that at first it might be a quick way to make a few extra bucks; however, in the long run what goes around comes around. There is the old saying that cheaters never prosper. I definitely believe in that saying whole-heartedly. The lessons I have learned from reading the bible have definitely helped me develop a strong sense of ethics and morals.

Another source of my ethical values would be from my educational career. Whether it be from elementary school, high school, or college, there were always lessons