I have thought a lot about what important ethical value or principle means the most to me. I don’t usually spend a lot of time thinking about ethics so this topic is somewhat out of my comfort zone. However, I have found within the last few years that one ethical value has always rang true to me.
My mother has always told me since I was a little not to judge people because you never know what’s going on with them behind closed doors. Growing up in this age and being a woman, I am often surrounded by judgement. This society and they way we are living our lives proves it’s almost impossible to escape judgement from yourself and others.
My freshman year of college I lost four family members in the span of fourteen months. For awhile, it seemed like I couldn’t even pay attention I was just going through the motions of the day. Every time someone would make a comment to me that was either rude or judgemental I would almost cry. I didn’t have the emotional capacity to handle jokes and being made fun of for a long time. I remember telling a friend of mine that he had no idea what was going on in my life and to stop his little “comments” for a while.
It was then that I understood what my mother has always taught me. I was the one with the different life behind closed doors. Flash-forward to one year later and I had the opportunity to study abroad. I lived in the Czech Republic for four months and traveled to different cities and countries almost every weekend.
The more places I saw and the more people I met, the more I realized how big the world is and how small my problems are. We get so accustomed to our lives that we forget what else is out there in the world. There are people all over the world struggling with things in their lives that aren’t apparent in our own. There are people suffering from mental health issues, family tragedies, financial instability, self-image issues and so many more things I can’t even imagine.
Meeting people from all over the world made me realize that each life is different and each life is special. It has re-instilled the lesson my mother taught me since I was young. She taught to treat everyone like I would treat myself and that is definitely the most important ethical value I hold.