Blog #1: Action Post

Hello and welcome to my blog post!

As mentioned in my About Me, this is my third year taking Social Responsibility and I decided to switch up my type of project this year. In both grade 9 and 10, I chose to research Inquiry questions and write about them. This year, I chose to do an Action Project.

My 3 most important values include Helping, Belonging and Reliability. My 3 least important values include Tolerance, Spiritual Growth and Courage. 

I agree that if I were to state my top 3 values, they would also be Helping, Belonging and Reliability. The statements, “I believe it is important to take care of others and help them meet their needs” (Helping), “I believe it is important for people to feel connected to and liked by others” (Belonging) and “I believe it is important to fulfill your commitments” (Reliability) do fit the values accurately and are said in an easy to understand manner. Although there are values that I agree with more than others, values like tolerance, spiritual growth and courage do still matter to me; however, I think those are values that may not affect everyone and different people may have different beliefs related to them, which is why I chose them as my least most important.

I believe, Respect, is an equally important value which has not been listed. The dictionary definition of respect is “due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others”. This is also an important value because to be a good leader, follower or human in general, you must show respect to all those around. Showing respect to those around shows empathy and care for their feelings as well which is important, no matter the scenario.

My top 3 values Helping, Belonging and Reliability, mean showing up, and giving your 100% towards whatever task you may be performing. To break it down, helping is a value I think everyone posses in some way or the other and if not, is something everyone should posses. Helping makes us better individuals, connects us back to our community and teaches us so many lessons on the daily. Belonging is a value that means a lot to me. As a teenager, there are times we don’t feel like we belong. We don’t feel as though we are meant to be where we are. To give our 100% into any action we take up, it is the responsibility of those around to make sure one feels a sense of belonging and a sense that those around want them there. That leads me to my next point of reliability. Reliability shows skill, respect and trust all in one. Without being a reliable individual, it is very difficult to build those relationships with those around because of the trust factor. My 3 most important values Helping, Belonging and Reliability are those that I think everyone should have in them as well as use them to become better humans and citizens of our world.

An example of when I put in the values helping and reliability into an action, include while volunteering at a soup kitchen in the community. I love giving back to my community which means in my free time I do like to volunteer. I especially love volunteering at Soup Kitchens because I think they are such a fun and simple way to help those less fortunate. Because of my previous experience volunteering at one, the community members who host the soup kitchens did know I was a reliable individual who could be trusted in and around the environment.  I was given the job to not only cook but serve at the latest soup kitchen because I showed reliability in the last.

A future situation where I could put the value ‘Belonging’ into action would be if there was a new kid at school and they did not feel as welcomed as they expected. I would talk to them, introduce them to my friends and make sure they feel like they are wanted in a new, unfamiliar environment.

‘Quality Education’ is one of the goals I value the most. Growing up in India, it was common for people from wealthier families to have people working for them. It was heartbreaking seeing how most of the drivers and helpers did not even get a chance to educate themselves. Because of many family members of mine coming from education backgrounds, this has been something I have always been passionate about. I believe, everyone should have a right to education, whether they want to pursue a career in a high-end field or work for themselves, everyone should have the right to be educated. This also happens to be my passion because of how big of a problem I know it is, especially in my home country. To me, the saddest part is that those who do have a right to education don’t always use it and in a way, take it away from those who would love to be in their place.

For this semester, I am going to be volunteering at the Coquitlam Public Library as a Reading Buddy. Although this is not directly connected to ‘Quality Education’, I do believe helping kids read and enhance their skills in that area is important and somehow relates to my passion. I can’t wait for this to start and to keep you updated on my experiences as a Reading Buddy!

Thank you for reading my blog post today. I look forward to reading yours as well 🙂

Anannya B.