Step 1 Action Post

My three most important values are courage, integrity, and reliability. My three least important values are equality, belonging and recognition.

I agree with most of the results. To me, believing in and standing up for your own beliefs, and understanding your own ethical code and staying true to yourself are closely related. They are two qualities that allow people to take control of their life and not lose sight of themselves, which I believe is extremely important. Many people choose to go along with what others say, because they don’t want to be seen as the “odd one out,” and they want to fit in with the crowd. Though they avoid situations where possibly everyone disagrees with them, ultimately they are chasing other people’s dreams and fulfilling other people’s wishes while ignoring their own desires. They are burying their authentic self, and they are becoming someone others want them to be, rather than someone they want to be. Thus, they are straying away from making their existence purposeful. I also believe it is important to fulfill your commitments, as this is closely tied in with with your relationships with other people and the success of achieving your goals. Fulfilling commitments to me is keeping your word to others and to yourself. If you say you’re going to do something, by following through, you gain the trust of others. Vice versa, you lose the trust. The words you say, and whether you fulfill them, holds a symbolism of your reliability, this can be both negative and positive depending on your choices of action following the words. It is also important to fulfill your goals to yourself. This ties in with the previous two statements. You can develop a goal, believing in it, work towards it, and ultimately achieving it; this is the act of keeping the word to yourself.

While I agree with the three important values, I do not necessarily agree that equality is a suitable word for the statement “I believe that everyone should have the same opportunities and rights”. I disagree with this quote because I believe opportunities should be something people work for, rather than something that is given. There’s a saying that opportunities are only given to those that are prepared, and to be prepared, you must work hard to achieve this status. Therefore, it isn’t necessarily correct to use the word equality, as only people that have worked hard can earn the opportunities will receive them and make use out of them. The other two, belonging and recognition, are lower in my list of importance, which I agree with. I agree with the two statements, it is important for people to feel connected to and liked by others, and people should be noticed for their efforts and contributions. However, I think they are misleading in a sense that, some people complete tasks for the purpose of getting recognized and liked by others. I don’t agree with this. I believe people should be doing things because they truly believe that it is beneficial and meaningful.

In the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the one that aligns with my values the most is good health and wellbeing. This is also my passion as I am interested in this field, and would like to contribute in different ways to the best of my abilities to alleviate current issues. One specific action project I can apply to address this goal is to pick up garbage around the area. This is because the amount of trash we generate, that are not cleaned up property, especially in the long term, negatively affects our health. This problem contributes to diseases like asthma, infectious diseases, and birth defects.