Journal # 11 Ethics and Values

A lot of people have a lot of different values. Christians have different values then non-Christians. Different cultures have different values too.

Some of my ethics and values include not cheating, and stuff like that. Pretty much I try to follow the Ten Commandments. No lying, no cheating, no saying the Lord's name in vain, no stealing, do not commit adultery, honor your father and mother, and all the rest of them too. I think the Ten Commandments are some pretty darn good rules to follow in life. I try to follow them. My family tries to follow them. I think everyone should try to follow them. They are awesome. They are great.

OK, I have a pretty good story about ethics and values. The other day I was at work. It was Wednesday I believe. (I work at passage at the Elementary School.) So I was supervising the children on the playground, and two little girls come up to me with a twenty dollar bill and say they found it in the tire. I said OK and took the twenty dollars and I said I would take it to my boss. Naturally, me being a very poor teenager who looooooooves money (why else would I have a job?, I contemplated whether I should actually give the twenty dollars to my boss or if I should keep it. It was only a little kid's twenty dollars right? And why would the kid put their TWENTY dollars in a tire on a playground that kids play with and not remember to get it back? Usually little kids are just as obsessed with money as the rest of us. I know my little brother is. (He's seven.) So when I finally walked inside the passage the room and came upon my moment of truth, I decided to give the twenty dollars to my boss. It was the right thing to do. Of course I said to myself, why do I always have to do the right thing? Most people would just keep the twenty dollars and say SCORE! But the truth is, I like doing the right thing. I like the feeling of helping someone or doing something that is right even if I do not feel comfortable doing it at first.

So that's pretty much what I learned from that experience. It is good to the right thing, even if I am still poor. (Although I'm not 100% poor anymore because today is my birthday and I'm getting money from people, and I got my first paycheck yesterday which was like 178.67 or something like that. Pretty good.