One ethical value that I have cherished since I was younger is respect. I think I was around 10 or 11 years old when I realized the importance of respect. I was attending a private christian school in Philadelphia, Pa. and I had recently left my old school, which was also a private school. During my previous school year I had seven different teachers come and go from my third grade class and I was uncertain about changing schools the following year because I was afraid that I would have teachers that would frequently change.
Fortunately that did not happen when I went to my new school for fourth grade. I had the same teacher all year and she was great. She was caring, patient, kind and always took the time to talk to her students. However, I had formed bad habits when it came to respect at my old school so even though the teacher at my new school was respectful, I was not always respectful in return.
According to Vocabulary.com respect “is a way of treating or thinking about something or someone. If you respect your teacher, you admire her and treat her well.” What I had to learn when I went into fourth grade was how to not only respect myself but how to respect others and be a better person. The thing that helped me learn this was joining Boy Scouts. At first I did not want to join my Boy Scout troop. I didn’t really understand the importance of joining a troop and learning the Boy Scout oath and laws at that time but as I look back on it, I see that it helped me so much in the long run.
The Boy Scout oath is “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout law; to help other people at all times; to keep keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. The scout laws are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
Boy Scouts and my scouting leaders laid the foundation for what I know about respect and how important it is. I have tried my best to learn from the example my scouting leaders set when I was a teenager years ago and I continue to try and do that. I think the most important thing that is connected to being respectful is treating others how you want to be treated. Both values, respect and treating others well, are important and are something we all can do.