Step 1 action post: my values & aligning them with global millennium goals

After doing the values activity, I learned my 3 most important values are equality, freedom & friendship. My 3 least important values are tradition, leadership & innovation. In my opinion, I somewhat agree with my results, however, I find that the statements are good descriptions of the values. The sole reason I slightly disagree with the results is since I don’t think tradition, leadership & innovation are my least important values, I value them just as much as any other. However, I don’t think they are as needed as values such as equality, freedom & friendship because they are not basic human rights. Instead, I believe they are values that we could essentially “survive” without but are also needed in our day-to-day lives/lifestyles.

If there was one value I wish they would have placed, it would be security. Security is definitely one of my top three values because human security means that people can live without the fear that their freedoms will be taken away. I personally value security because it allows me to feel a sense of comfort that if anything goes wrong, I know that everything will be okay. I find that my top 3 values are some that I would consider very important to me. Equality is important to me because I was raised with the belief that no one should be treated differently due to their sex, race, age, etc. No matter what, I believe everyone should be held and treated to the same standard because no one’s life should be considered “better” or “more important” than someone else’s. I value freedom because I believe it’s a basic human right that allows us to share our opinions, perspectives and to be ourselves. Friendship is important to me because they are the most beneficial relationship in life. Friendships can impact our happiness, comfort, overall health and allow us to look at different perspectives and learn from them.

After researching the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, I’ve found that gender equality (goal 5) aligns with my values of freedom, equality, and friendship the most. However, the climate action & life below water goals (13 & 14) are my passions because I care greatly for our environment, the effects of pollution, and how it can harm wildlife, specifically marine animals. This goal inspired my action project from last semester where I did nature clean-ups in our local parks and areas.

A specific action I can do for the climate action & life below water goals is nature clean-ups and ocean clean-ups.

A situation where I put into action the values of friendship and freedom into action: One day I and a group of friends went out for lunch. Everyone bought something to eat and we were enjoying spending our time together when we realized that one of our friends didn’t buy anything and insisted she wasn’t hungry. However, she later confess she could not afford anything at the moment. After she left to go to the washroom, I quickly made a plan and to my friends what we could do to help. Using our freedom & friendship, we each decided to split the cost of our friend’s food so she wouldn’t feel bad or left out. As a result of this, we managed to make her feel better and more comfortable to eat lunch with us. At the end of the day, we all enjoyed our time spent together and were proud of what our core values pushed us to do for our friend!

Putting my values into action in an imagined scenario:

Value: Equality  Future situation: Female athletes within the school community feel underappreciated and notice that coaches are more biased towards their male athletes. The community of female athletes notices that the males are constantly being acknowledged and praised, although the female athletes tend to perform better compared to them in their sports. Action: I bring attention to this unfair treatment within our school community and advocate for female athletes to be acknowledged. Thereby, bringing equality and fair treatment to both genders of our athletes.