Carrying these values are important with most you come across now because to function in society in a positive way and these same values being returned they must be given. Starting with respect which is defined as a feeling of admiration for something or someone because of their or its qualities or achievements. From this definition feel the key word is admiration, and it’s hard to admire something or someone without good qualities. Respect comes from people of all walks of life and in all kind of situations.
For example while serving in the Air Force I noticed that a lot of military members seemed to have respect or a lot superior’s rank, but not the person. I began to notice this trend as a young airman when an older senior NCO pulled me aside and said to me “Hey Sparks, would you rather have respect for your rank or personality? ‘ This was a question pondered on for a bit and replied with the answer, “Both”. The reason said both was because no matter what my rank was I wanted people to always respect me as a human being. After my reply the Senior NCO, next asked ‘”Well Sparks how do you achieve both? After giving this next question a few minutes of thought stated to the Senior Master Sergeant “Take care of people. ” This conversation always resonated with me in my military career and in later in life because it showed an important aspect of respect and of leadership. As I went through my Air Force career as both military and civilian this was something I always focused in on when dealing with people under me and when viewing leader above me and around me. For example there was once a Master Sergeant that I worked for that was all respect from his rank and no none as a person, which later cost him when it came to promotion.
This particular individual never cared much about others only myself, he throw a troop under the bus quick fast and in a hurry’ if he could not use them to make himself look good. He thought these actions went unnoticed, but everyone from the lowest ranking person in the squadron to the Commander could see the type of person he was. His action caused people under him to do the bare minimum when it came to work, only because they had to out of respect for his rank. On the flip side of things one of his peers also a Master Sergeant everyone loved and respected, because he was genuinely a good person and would take care of everyone.
This Master Sergeant was the one who ended up getting promoted, because of his board scores because of his strong package he had written. Respect ended up being such a big part of my life as child from watching my father and wanting to be a man like him. Respecting people and gaining people’s respect were values he lived by and instilled in my brother and me. When he passed so many people came out to show their respect because he showed so much respect to others. Now having three children of my own I constantly try to implant in them how important respect is to have and give others.
This great liar of respect also has played a major role in shaping history. Great leaders and scholars were built due to the respect they had amongst people and followers. For example the great Greek philosopher Socrates, who established philosophy as a lived experience versus a set of doctrine, was and is respected throughout life because of his teachings (Firer, p. 1 02). It’s said that Socrates never wrote any books or letters in his lifetime and what’s known of him mainly comes for the writings Of his students (Hero, p. 1 02).
I feel these are aspects of Socrates that adds to the great respect for him as a helicopter and as a historical figure. Just that fact that he never had any published writings or documented record of his work, shows the respect the man had. The second of my three credos I believe heavily in is loyalty, because I feel it’s also a foundation to being a good person. Loyalty throughout time has helped people and leaders succeed in different aspects of life, ruling an empire, in all types of relationships and just in everyday life. In my opinion loyalty also parallels with respect because I feel you can’t have one without the other.
When it comes to all types of relationship, from friendships, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, and work relationships they all start with loyalty. For me when it comes to friendships there is nothing worse than a disloyal friend. One of my favorite saying in life is “Don’t tell me about someone talking about me, tell me why they feel so comfortable telling talking about me to you”. This statement tells a lot about friendships in regards to loyalty, because there is not a person who can avoid having someone talk about them, but true loyalty in a friendship can protect the reined being talked about.
In a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship loyalty has to be a key component for the relationship to survive. That loyalty in this type of relationship comes in many different forms, with the biggest One being faithful. When it comes to ancient history and emperors ruling an empire loyalty had to be a huge part for an emperor to build a successful empire. It took the loyalty of the people in the empire, the loyalty of the king or emperors men and of his family. One example of a great leader who had the loyalty and respect of his people initially was the one time Roman Empire Julius Caesar.
Caesar came to power by establishing himself as a great military leader, but later lost the loyalty of his people included his second and command and good friend. It was said that as a superb organizer, Caesar took strong measures to reestablish Rome: he codified the laws, regulated taxation, reduced debt, sent large number of the unemployed proletariat to overseas colonies, and inaugurated public work projects (Hero, p. 141). Due to these acts Caesar established the great amount of loyalty among the Rome people, but his overwhelming popularity caused him to lose support and cause disloyalty in his own circle.
Our textbook explains threatened by Caesar populist reforms and his contempt for republican institutions, a group of his senatorial opponents, led by Brutes, assassinated him in 44 B. C. E. (Firer, p. 141). The final strong believe I have is the belief in integrity which also coincides with the other two of respect and loyalty, but take as the most important. Having a sense of integrity is a pillar that is important in all walks of life and also though out history. Integrity is doing some right when no one is looking, its being honest and just doing what’s right in general.
Also with respect, integrity was a value that was placed in me as child by my father and later reinforced during my military career. In the case Of my father, he would say doing the right thing when no one is looking gives you self-gratification and validation with only you. He explained that a lot people make sure to do things in the public eye to get validation and cheers other people but the intent is not always genuine. When it comes to the litany reinforcing integrity in my life it was because it happened to be one of the core values in the Air Force “Integrity first”.
After being a little apprehensive about joining the military, and not coming from a military family, seeing integrity first entering basic training really confirmed choose the right branch to join. On the leadership side of things where all leaders didn’t have integrity during their time of power some did such as Buddha. Buddha is considered a religious leader, but one of his four nobles to the path of enlightenment was “right conduct leads to release from pain”. This noble to me in a sense is stating that having integrity will free individuals from pain and heartache.