A COMPARITIVE STUDY OF THE VALUES ADOPTED BY PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AGE GROUP

We face tough decisions everyday. We encounter several circumstances each day which test our patience, our peace of mind, our character. Our values guide us and shape our priorities and reactions. Our values determine our decisions and guide our lives. Those who value their individuality take responsibility, are self reliant and act with self-respect. Those who value truthfulness cannot bring themselves to tell a lie. Those who value family or friendship sacrifice their personal interests for the good of others. Those who value goodness cannot bring themselves to do something they know is wrong. We express values in our relations with other people when we are loyal, reliable, honest, generous, trusting, trustworthy, feel a sense of responsibility for family, friends, co-workers, our organization, community or country. On a more physical level, we may place great value on cleanliness, punctuality, orderliness, accuracy, quality, and physical perfection in whatever we do. Accomplishment in life depends not only on physical energy, but even more on the intensity of psychological energy we are able to bring to our action. Interest, commitment, determination, passion, drive, enthusiasm are some of the ways in which we characterize the intensity of our psychological energy. It turns out those values direct our psychological energies for accomplishment. The scholar with a passion for accuracy will expend enormous energy in the search for facts and the effort to impartially verify them. Once he does so, his work will be relied upon by others and gain a reputation for its veracity. The gymnast or figure skater with a passion for perfection will continue to practice throughout her career to hone her skills, moved by the quest for the value of perfection - that score of perfect 10. Thus, we see that Values determine the intensity and flow of our psychological energies. In the end, the quality of the values we embrace and the intensity of our commitment to them determine the level of our accomplishment in life.