What are your values?

[Brian37]

I got the idea for this thread from Pool's recent thread.

Make a list of some of the more important values you strive to live your life by.

As an example, here are a few things on a short list:

Respect all people
Be humble
Live a moral life
Be generous
Don't be self righteous
Forgive others

Yours?

I hate the word "respect". I never use it. It far too often gets used to mean, "Know your place" and or "don't bruise my ego". It is far to often used to avoid scrutiny of what one claims.

I say "value" and I most certainly value human rights, but claims as ideas do not deserve a pedestal never to be challenged.

So here is my list.

1. Value human rights, but you dont have to value bad claims.
2. I agree, be humble, humans are not the center of the planet or universe, not even me.
3. "Live a moral life", I wouldn't put it like that considering 7 billion humans have different ideas of what that means and unfortunately base that on religion which in turn pits religion against religion, and sect vs sect even under the same religion.

3. <---- 3 ^^^^^^ To me would be put in the following, " Seek non violence and know ultimately we are not a separate species."

4. Be generous, YES YES YES.... When you can sure, but don't go broke because then you wont be able to help yourself.

5. Don't be self righteous? Ok sure, but still a huge difference between being  a selfish narcissist which makes one an asshole, and telling someone a fact. Facts are worth defending.

5....... ^^^^^ It is NOT for example, "self righteous" to say the earth is a globe. It is not "self righteous" to say evolution is a FACT. 

I do think most humans are good, or at least want to think they are doing good, but that does not mean I have to agree that our behaviors are a result of a sky hero vs a ground villain. Nor do I think any religion or holy writing invented human behaviors, good or bad.

6. "Forgive" um yes and no. Yes when you want to, but no if you don't want to. Nobody has the right to tell me whom to forgive or not to forgive. I chose whom I have in my life. Now that does not mean I WANT revenge on those who hurt me, it just means if I want to part company and never have contact with them again, that is my choice. 

EXAMPLE, if someone murdered my sisters NO, I would not forgive them and would want them arrested, nor would I want further contact with them. But no, I would not want revenge because that doesn't mean anything. But for minor things, like a harsh word, sure, with friends and family we do do that. But no, I don't forgive bullies or physical abuse.