Value Examples

Values are culture dependent. Values that are shared by many cultures include freedom, justice, equality, and solidarity. Here are a few thoughts that come to mind:

  • Freedom: It makes me happy to live in a country and to come from a home in which
      • I was allowed to enjoy free time in my childhood/youth and was allowed to decide whether and which musical instrument I wanted to play, which club I wanted to join, and the school I wanted to intend.
      • I was allowed to decide freely what I would like to do one day, although I was grateful for advice.
      • Even at young age, it is therefore important to my wife and me that our child is given freedom of choice. In choosing what to eat, what to do in his free time, etc. This freedom requires a certain tolerance when we realize that our recommendations do not meet with his approval.
  • Justice: For me, justice on a global level means the universal observance of human rights/obligations. Therefore, I am grateful to live in a country in which the laws are not only written down, but there is also a functioning legal system that ensures compliance. Through the combination of both, rule system and rule monitoring, it is fair for me in Germany.

My son asks the first questions „What happens to people who steal or seriously injure others?“ and I explain to him that this is a violation of the rules and that this is punished by the justice system with penalties (although I currently still equate justice with police).

  • Equality and solidarity: We humans have different strengths, origins, tastes, etc. we are individuals and yet we are – thanks to our constitutional state before the law all equal and have the same rights and obligations.

We do not have the same health, income, or wealth. Solidarity is important, that you don’t care about your fellow human beings. This is what I want to convey to my son. In terms of duties, we ask him, for example, to clear his own plate and cutlery, and then we usually manage to get him to help clear it.

Balance: I would describe balance as the middle of too much and too little. I can also explain this vividly to my son, whether it’s eating (it’s good to eat enough so that we’re not hungry, but we feel unwell if we stuff ourselves completely), sleeping (where is our personal optimum so that we’re not „grumpy“), vacations (only vacations ever don’t make you happy, because everyday life is missing) …

I go into more detail about the balance concept on a global level in the April blog post. At this level, I see the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as an important step towards global balance.

What are the values that you want to follow? What are the values you want to pass on to your child?

What are values?

Image: iStock.com/Hwangdaesung

… and why are they important?

Values are principles / objectives that guide us. They are based on our (shared) ideas of what we think is good and right – in terms of living together. If we lived alone, there would be no need for them.

As a consequence values form the basis, the foundation of our community. The community can be, for example, the family, the sports club, the school, the company, the region, the country, or the continent. This is where the term „community of values“ comes from.

Values are therefore the basis for the rules / laws that organize our coexistence. They serve the balance of interests to satisfy needs without restricting those of others. Accordingly, values themselves must sometimes be weighed.

In Germany, dignity is a high collective value that guides our laws and our jurisprudence. For example, the first sentence of Article 1 of the Basic Law reads: „Human dignity is inviolable. It is the duty of all state authority to respect and protect it.“

What is meant by this sentence is: „No human being may be treated as a thing, completely disenfranchised, subjected to inhuman and degrading punishments and treatment, tortured or destroyed as so-called life unworthy of life.“  [[1]]

It is important to me that my son treats his fellow human beings with respect and is aware of his own dignity, in such a way that possible insults/humiliations cannot hurt his self-worth. To convey this to him, firstly I strive, for example, to be a good role model for him, to make him aware of his strengths, and to tell him appropriate stories.

Secondly, since the concept of values is still somewhat abstract for a six-year-old, I used the compass as a vivid example of orientation, since he knows it from his pirate ship😉

After this post has answered the question „What are values?“, you will find examples of values in the next blog post.


[1] Thurich, Eckart: pocket politik. Demokratie in Deutschland. Neuausgabe 2006. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 2006. Lexika für politische Bildung unter www.bpb.de