Objectives:
- Become familiar with the basic relationship if human values to psychological and philosophical endeavors
- Under stand the values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
- Explore one’s own value system
Original Post:
The top 5 values that I chose are family, health, personal development, friendship and independence. They are definitely what I care about everyday. I am an international student coming from China, so my parents live far away from 8,000 miles. I talk to them through social media everyday. Today, I sent my mom a photo of my dinner. I wrote, “Hi mom, I will increase weight for sure! Have you seen my dinner? I cooked two dishes just for myself.” My mom replied, “I’d love to see your ‘awesome’ home-made dinner. ” Last week, I had flu and got fever for four days. My parents worried about me, and they wanted me to take good care of myself. They said, “We can’t do anything when you are sick except keeping calling you. We are worried about your health.” No matter how old I am, I am still a child in my parents’ eyes. “Family” is the most important thing for me though I have been left them for four years. Also, they care about my health very much, so I should focus more on my health not just for myself, but also for my family. Meanwhile, I am a senior student, so what I need to pay more attention to is personal development. I’m keeping in touch with my professors and advisors to figure out what I really want to do after graduation. I’m preparing GRE test and planning to apply a graduate school. Furthermore, maintaining and building good relationship with friends also brings me happiness to my busy life.
These values are listed as the top 5 values that I chose today. I am sure “family” and “health” will be No.1 & 2 for a long time. However, what other three values will be tomorrow? If my wallet is lost, “security” will come to the third one. If I have a design assignment due tomorrow, “creativity” might be one of the top 5. Therefore, my leading or major values cannot be always the same. As time goes by, I guess my personal values would experience some fluctuates then tend to be stable.
Reflection:
In week 2, by reading the article and doing the life value assessment, I realized that human values are not permanent, and they will be changed upon one’s education and experience. I used my own experience of communicating with my family as an international student. Last time, when I did the life value assessments, “family” and “health” were the top 2 value on the list. I also said “I am sure family and health will be NO.1 & NO.2 for a long time”. In the fact, I felt so true that these two things are the most important things in my entire life. Last week, my grandparents, who live in China, had a car accident. When I heard the news, I felt so sad and sorry because I couldn’t do anything except keeping asking my mom and dad what was going on. At that time, “family” was not simply a home for me. It meant love, hope and responsibility. I finally understood why my parents kept saying “Take good care for us!” I wanted to say the same words to my grandparents. Sometimes, you might doubt your No.1 life value. You may ask, “Does it really matter?” You have to experience something then you could conform if it is true or not.
Otherwise, I think there is something in common with the personal adornment. I think a person’s dressing style and body adornment can also represent his or her personal values. When I recalled the memory of how my parents dressed themselves in my childhood, I thought their standards of beauty shaped my primary/original personal value of beauty. As time goes by, my value of beauty has changed but not vey much.
Future:
In the near future, I think my personal values will change a little bit. I will graduate in 6 months, so I should focus more on “Personal development” and “Personal accomplishment”. I also need to think about the “Location” and “Community” because they closely relate to my future career. I want to keep building my personal values and exploring what I really want to do in the future. Meanwhile, family and health are my most two important life-long values that I’ll never ignore.
Table of Contents:
Artifact 4: The Art of Personal Adornment
Artifact 5: The Anesthetic of Horror
Artifact 6: Creative Spirituality