We live in a complex world where good and bad things happen all the time. People compete with each other to gain ever more prestige, money, or resources. We are a competitive people. Some do things fairly and some cheat the system. It is the values that help them navigate the world in different ways. Those who have self-oriented values can justify just about anything while those who have pro-social values have limitations on their behaviors.
I've seen beautiful things and ugly things during my life. The best and worst of human nature is based on values. Those with prosocial values will do things differently than those without. Its important to ensure our society encourages prosocial values to encourage social learning.
On the ugly side I have seen people justify horrendous behaviors and I have had the pleasure of meeting people who have have sacrificed for certain pro-social principles. The later is more important than the former but that isn't how it often works in the world where the competitive stakes are high.
For example in the real world, the laws sometimes function as they should and sometimes they don't. There are people trying to do the right thing and people trying to do the wrong thing. The laws are only functional if they connect to a moral conscious and seek to emulate pro-social values.
Values create trust and those who don't have certain values quickly erode trust. For example, in business one might be honest with customers that leads to repeat sales. Institutions that act with wisdom would have more support than those who run blind processes (worse, have the wrong values).
Whether your in business, government or in the daily affairs of life try and maintain certain principles and values. If you have an internal compass (internalized values) you will be able to feel when things are right and when something isn't correct. Listen to that prompting.
Values are what differentiates good people from more destructive people. The world often skips over such values for a whole host of reasons. However, values are what holds people together and ensure that there is trust among societal members. Shared values are fundamental to relevance.
When those who lack values make decisions over those who have values we are not in a good situation. We should continue to push for value oriented leadership that realize action over words. Maintain values in yourself and expect our leaders to maintain their expressed values. No matter your station in life your values will come to define you.
The thing about values is you can't fake them for long. People or institutions have them or they don't. Lack of correction indicates a lack of values and irrelevance of purpose.
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