Ethics and Values

Along with religion, ethics and values are a great part of people's lives and are apart of who they are. Also just like religion, it is what make people who they are. According to Merriam Webster, ethics are : a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values. Values are values especially of a traditional or conservative kind which are held to promote the sound functioning of the family and to strengthen the fabric of society.
I value many different things. I value family and friends, things that are important to me. Like for example, my rights, my hobbies that I like to do, or what I believe is right. These things are the things that I value. People's values can be different by how they are raised and what cultural environment as well. Some values can be taught by parents, friends, family, and other people that could influence them. I would have to say that the environment definitely influences people and their behavior because a person is not born with the knowledge of what is important and what is not important to them. Those are some things that they learn when they find out who they are and what the chose to believe and support. It is in a way, what defines us as a person. From my life experiences, I have learned what is important to me and why. It influences not only my decisions, but my decision process as well. My opinion of something might be different from somebody else's because we have different values. I have different goals then others, so I don't expect someone who wants to become a engineer to be taking the same class I am.
Our moral values shape who we are, therefore, in a way shape who we will become. My decisions that I make today, will affect who I am and what I become in the future. Values are very important to who we are as a person.

Working With A Partner

Working with a partner has its benefits and it has its downfalls...
Some of my favorite projects at school involve working with a partner. It can definitely make the project more fun and it also teaches you how to work as a team. It is nice because if one day you are booked and can't work on the project, but the other person can, you can still get part of the project done at least. Also you get to know the other person more. Having worked with different partners, I have gotten to know multiple people better. When partnering up with someone from Farmington, I get to meet someone from a whole different school. That is kind of cool. Also when working with a partner, if you both know the material, you can quiz each other which makes the test easier on test day. Plus I usually enjoy projects and that in itself helps me learn better.
What makes working with a partner bad is that if the partner does not want to do any work. That can be EXTREMELY frustrating!!!! What I hate is when you are with someone that just expects you to do all the work for them. That annoys me because they are taking advantage of having someone that actually tries. I do not like when that happens because I am usually the one that ends up having to do it all. The good thing about doing it all though, is that you learn more material, but not as well because you end up having to rush to get the project done. Another thing is that if you end up having to do the "partner project" by yourself, the quality is not as good and you end up getting a worse grade then what you planned on getting. That is one reason why I like to pick my partner. Either that or just pray I get to be with someone that will help out and want to work and get it done, just as much as I do.
Overall there are pros and cons to working with a partner. Working with a partner can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a pain and hard to deal with. So in conclusion I only like working it partners when we each work equally and get along, otherwise, the project can be a struggle and a battle.

Organized Religion

Throughout the world there are multiple religions. You have the Christians, Catholics, Lutherans, Atheists, and Calvinism. Religion plays a big part in the world today. It is the foundation of most cultures and influences people greatly. It's what people believe in, live from, and are inspired by. Even the ones named above are a very select few of the types of religion around the world. You have religions that are similar and religions that are completely and utterly different. Religions also vary on were the people live.

Some religions are based off of God, or gods, or maybe other materialistic things. Either way, whatever their religion, it is usually very special to them and is apart of who they are. We have had religion from the very beginning. Since the Puritans came over to America until now, the fact that religion has been a major factor in our history is true. One of the main reasons that people from Europe came to America was that they wanted freedom of religion, so that they could express themselves the way they sought fit. In doing so, America was beginning to be formed. Organized religion today is very much apart of our lives because every morning we say the pledge of alligence and we say "one nation under God". It is part of our Constitution and apart of the making of the country.
For me, my organized religion means a lot to me. It is what I base my decisions on and what I live for. Without my religion I would be completely lost!! No doubt about it. It shapes who I am and what I will become. Organized religion is not just the bases for individuals, but countries and government as well, which is something that we do not always think about.
People have different values, different beliefs, and different backgrounds, which is what makes each organized religion....different and unique. There are a ton of different religions out there.

Blame

How often do we blame others for something that we did? I think a word that goes along with blame, is ownership. If you are not willing to take ownership of your own actions, then you usually place blame on someone or something else. Placing blame on someone can cause a lot of problems. First of all you have the problem of what you are doing, and then you have the problem of placing the blame on someone else and lying.

That is another word of blame, lying. One of my pet peeves is when people do something repeatively wrong and never own up to it, but instead blame/lie about it, that makes me very mad. People that blame each other the most is a brother and a sister. There is always the classic story of "she started it" or "it was not my fault". Little kids especially love to place the blame on someone else, when they know that they are possibly going to get in trouble.

Most of the time blame happens when one is scared about a certain consequence that is about to happen. People hate getting in trouble, so they think that "it can not be me getting in trouble, so it has to be them". This mind set is wrong, but we all think it and it is hard to break the habit of thinking it. It starts at a young age in little kids and if it is not broken, then you see the pattern of lying and blaming others throughout the kids' lives.

Another place that blame happens is during sports. Sometimes, no matter what sport it is, people just can not own up to their mistakes and sometimes blame either another player, or a referee. It is hard not to get in the habit of doing so, and I even find myself blaming one or the other during a sports season, but sometimes it would just be better to keep my mouth shut and just let it go.

My True Colors

Upon taking the True Colors quiz, I got the results of the color blue and in a close second the color orange. In the True Colors category you have four different colors; blue, orange, green, and gold. Each of them stands for a different type of personality. The color blue means passion, compassion, tender, warm, and caring. The color orange stands for courageous, competitive, likes to have fun, playful, out-going, and risk-taker. The color green means logical, like to think everything out, and conceptional. The color gold represents conventional, organized, and follows the rules.
The color blue was what first popped up to define my personality. I think that the True Colors test was pretty accurate because I am both blue and orange. I am compassionate, passionate, and caring, but also competitive, out-goin, and I love to have fun as well.
It if fun to see what comes up about your personality just by taking an online quiz. Some of the questions were very easy to answer, while other ones were hard. I found my self wanting to answer both A and B for the questions because I thought that I was both. That is where I think that the quiz is at a fault because when taking a quiz about yourself, it is hard to know what you are like. Also, what if you are not more towards one answer than the other? For me I had that a lot and did not know what one to choose, which I think could have definitely messed up my score.
Overall, I think that the True Colors quiz was accurate, but also could be at fault with its method. It was fun to see what came up because when you look at it, you are like "Yea, I guess that is me". With my results being blue and orange I am very happy with that outcome and I think nails it to the point for the most part.

The Way You Categorize/Describe People

People categorize others in multiple different ways, sometimes negatively and sometimes positively. They look at things like appearance, characteristics, and hobbies, then categorize or describe them. They put that person in a certain group and leave it at that. It can be a good thing by the fact that you can steer away from particular people, but also bad because then you could miss out on meeting some really cool people that you otherwise would never have met.

The bad way that people categorize or describe people is that it can sometimes be very hurtful. When judging people and assuming things about them, you can sometimes be very wrong. The biggest mistake people can make is judging just on the looks of the person. What they wear might say something about them, but it doesn't tell you who they actually are. Stereotyping is what most high schoolers do just out of habit, but it is a bad habit that we all sometimes fall into. When you see a person dressed strangely or their hair is weird, it is hard not to make assumptions about them. It is sometimes just a natural instinct that we catch ourselves doing. Another bad thing about judging people is that by judging, you could totally miss out on a person that could have been your best friend or even just a friend. You have to be careful, but being too careful can be bad as well.

I usually categorize people by their personalities. Knowing each of my friends characteristics and personalities I always know who to go to for each situation. After knowing what the person is actually like, then you can decide whether or not you want to be friends with them. Too often I think people forget that step of getting to know them first and end up missing out on a potential blessing. I think everybody, including myself, need to work on not judging other people just by looking at them and making assumptions.

Losing It All

One of the most common phrases in American culture is "it will never happen to me". No matter what the situation may be, that is always the answer. When it actually does happen, we are usually shocked. What would it be like to lose it all? It's one of those things that no one likes to think about. What would you do if you lost it all?
It is very hard to wrap your mind around that question because it is something that we deem impossible. If I were to lose it all, I think my first response would be to pray to God and ask why? I know for a fact that I would be completely devastated as well. It would be so hard to go through something like that. The first place that I would turn, would be the church. Even if I lost all my possessions, I would first look to the church for support.
I would also wonder what lead up to the incident where I lost it all. What caused it? You see, I would also need time to sort out all the questions that I had stored up in my head. It would take me at least a day to get things straightened out in my head, and even then I probably would not have all my answers. In a way it would be like starting completely over. You would have to get new friends, new house, new things, new everything. I think that would be one of the hardest parts, adjusting to it all. Everything is new and that in itself is outside of most peoples comfort zones. A person would just have to keep moving forward. The good thing though, is that even if you lost it all (all possessions and such), you would still have God, which is really all you ever need in the first place. That would be the key fact for me. That would be what would get me through, and that is why I would run first to the church. Losing it all would be so hard that it is hard enough to try and put it into words. It would be a very terrible thing.