Inculcating values among citizens in nation building

by Nagalingam Kumarakuruparan

Life flowers best in situations where collaboration and partnership with others is the norm, and where there is mutual trust and understanding.

This is true when you are engaged with people in the pursuit of changing environments and values. The open way of functioning ensures that each individual is valued for what he can contribute to society.

Every choice we make has consequences. A holistic way to approach choices and consequences is to examine our personal value system.

Competition

There was once a mountaineering team that had prepared for three years for a competitive climb. When they finally began, somewhere after the second camp, they came across a seriously injured climber in need of medical assistance.

Those were the days of no mobile phones. One of the members of the team, obviously out of a strong value system, decided to drop out of the climb and help to bring down the injured person.

No amount of pleading from his team convinced him to do otherwise. We might one day be in the same situation.

“Do unto others what you would like them do to you”.

It is no surprise that this is termed the golden rule, because it is an eternal value. So, you approach the person, respond to the need and walk away.

There was congruence between your value system and the choice you made.

Making a good living, being peaceful, helpful, sharing are all values.

Values

Out of these values we make choices and take action, but every choice we make has a price in the case of the mountaineer, he paid the price of not reaching the summit; he let go his glory to save a life.

Values determine our action preferences and priorities. The value system should also stand the test of time.

Universal friendship; compassion; joy in others’ happiness and consideration for others, are the four-fold;

Maitri, Karuna Mudita and Upeksha the Buddha often stressed these values in his sermons, and all spiritual traditions are in conformity with these.

Universal values are not the exclusive preserve of one community, they are common to all.

We grow in the communities we are born into, inheriting many preconceived ideas, beliefs and social systems.

Social identity

They give us a social identity and we become part of the living communities. They are ways of finding fulfilment that go beyond and purely personal. However, in communities, there are also barriers to social interaction with others because of the walls of exclusion. The sense of belonging that we feel in a community is sometimes the very reason why we cannot interact with freedom in dealing with others outside it.

Conflict

This may be a reason for conflict. Peace is not absent of conflict. It is the growth of the spirit within we should strive to build a world of love. We should learn to overcome fear, hatred and discord that create negative feelings and outcomes.

The country today needs a new set of precepts and direction; there is an urgent need for re-examining our value system.

The country is fast losing the noble values that once guided us and kept the people of this country at peace.

All of us, individually and collectively have been responsible in one way or the other for the present state of affairs, and we have also the responsibility to set it right.

The root cause of all our problems in our society is the erosion of human values. Hence, the solution to the problem is in developing human values, inculcating them. Especially among our children and youth.

The values when inculcated among them, transform them and make them good citizens.

A transformed human being not only enjoys peace within, but also is a beacon for the whole world to follow. He brings harmony into the whole society by his living and guidance to others.

As members of one family, we need to overcome hostility together we will find that in the end, it is the life force within us that overcomes what destroys and divides.

If we plant just one seed of love and kindness everyday, at the end of our lives we will have created a landscape of unspeakable beauty.