“VALUES Reorientation” was the theme of the activity I was invited to, as a resource speaker at the 99th founding anniversary of Benguet State University.
Present were President Ben Ladilad, other officers, faculty, and staff of the university. It was a whole morning activity for all employees of the school last July 1.
While the topic has always been close to my heart, I had several sleepless hours thinking out and preparing for the talk with workshop. It was supposed to be a one and a half hour activity, but I was informed the afternoon before, that I would also fill in the slot of another speaker who will be unable to make it. This added to the pressure.
Nevertheless, when the purpose is clear, often times, obstacles can be overcome simply by the desire and commitment to fulfill what one has to do.
Excerpts and some ideas shared were:
What are values?
They are important beliefs or ideals that a person or group has on what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable.
Common values are usually shared by members of a family, an organization, or a culture, about what is good or bad and about what is desirable or undesirable.
Why are values important?
Values have a major influence on a person’s attitude and behavior, and serve as guidelines for making decisions in various situations.
How are values formed?
1. Upbringing – Our parents, guardians, babysitters, household help, and family members influence us to a very great extent. From what we see, hear, feel, experience, and are taught, our values are formed.
2. People – Our classmates, peers, teachers, officemates, superiors, subordinates, close friends, organization members, and people close to home, mentioned above, do greatly change earlier values, for better or for worse.
3. Environment – the media, social media, internet, church, company we work in, community and culture of the people we mingle with add to, and do change our values.
4. Life metaphor – how we look at life determines our values.
Examples of life metaphors are: life is like a circus, a carousel, a journey, a marathon, a battle, etc.
I described my grandparents’ roots from China. Also, how they ingrained in my parents the Confucian values of hard work, frugality, perseverance, and humility; how my parents who were born in Baguio adopted many good values of the Baguio community and the Filipino culture; and how my mother’s upbringing with a humble, loving, meek and patient stepmother from Kapangan have helped shape their values, too.
All these were exhibited to us during my childhood years, and have helped shape my own values.
School, a good working environment, and exposure to McDonald’s corporate values of being Customer Driven, having Malasakit, Integrity, Teamwork, and striving for Excellence, have shaped me and a lot of others exposed to a similar environment.
Each organization normally has good values to impart and “require” from its members. Working on them enhances our character.
The following are the core values of BSU. These were taken up in more detail as our values affect our behavior.
E xcellence
V ibrancy
E quity
R esponsiveness
Leadership
A ccountability
S ervice
T eamwork
I ngenuity
N obility
G reatness
3 T’S - Life metaphors I learned from Rick Warren were shared. Life is a Test. Life is a Trust. And Life is a Temporary Assignment.
Consciously or unconsciously, our life metaphors shape our lives. They describe how life works and what we expect from it.
In fact, people express their life metaphors thru clothes, jewelries, cars, hairstyles, bumper stickers, even tattoos.
The way we see our life ultimately shapes our destiny. Our perspective on life influences how we spend our time, our money, talents, and value our relationships.
Our Life Metaphor, spoken or unspoken influences our life more than we realize. It influences our expectations, our relationships, our goals, our priorities, and our values.
Our upbringing, people, environment and life metaphors determine our values.
Our VALUES guide our thoughts. Our THOUGHTS affect our FEELINGS; our feeling affect our ACTIONS; our REPEATED BEHAVIOR become our HABITS. Our habits reflect our CHARACTER.
My Dearest BSU Family Members,
It is my sincere hope that my sharing will help our school (I had my 2 year ROTC training 47 years ago at BSU, when it was still called Mountain State Agricultural College) move forward as it approaches its 100th year.
May it be reinvigorated with a display of core values, especially of Leadership and Service.
May all who are in public service, remember and keep to heart:
1 PETER 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock under your care, serving as overseers, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you not to be greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over them, but being examples to his flock.