Personal Values Paper

Essay by stilljustusUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, September 2008

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Values are traits that are considered beneficial or meaningful. Being of German immigrants, my personal values, morals, traditions and beliefs are defined by the friends they kept here in America. My parents left family and friends behind in search of a greater lifestyle, working opportunities and new friendships, while still maintaining old world customs and traditions. Growing up, we treated friends as family, inviting all to personal gatherings, worshiping at the same church, attending the same schools, and often vacationing at the same destinations. The core values and beliefs were defined by these individuals and make me the person that I am today in society. Although personal values have not changed, my ethics have evolved primarily due to friends, employment and having a family. Encarta defines personal values as the accepted principles or standards of an individual or group, while ethics is defined as principles or standards of human conduct (Encarta, 2008).

When my parents came to the United States, they left their immediate family and extended family behind. They met here after attending a German club meeting where many German immigrants went to get information on jobs, services, immigration and naturalization issues, and to just meet others with the same goals and ideas as their own. These new found friends became my aunts and uncles and their kids were my cousins. To this day I still refer to them as aunt and uncle. When I make new friends, they are usually friends for life. Many of the personal traits of these individuals became traits I inherited during my lifetime. Foods, money, family and friends are the centerpiece of these traits. Ethics though have completely changed as I viewed them as a child. Considering that I had a skewed view of ethics, not that the ethics portrayed by...