>> What do you stand for, or what will you stand
against?
Your personal value system will guide you throughout your life, both in personal
and professional matters. How often you will decide to stand by those values
or deviate from them will be a matter of personal choice, but each one of those
choices will contribute to the ongoing development of your values. As the work of
Lawrence Kohlberg (page 11) points out, your understanding of moral complexities and
ethical dilemmas grows as your life experience and education grow. For that reason, you
will measure every choice you make against the value system you developed as a child
from your parents, friends, society, and often your religious upbringing. The cumulative
effect of all those choices is a value system that is unique to you. Of course, you will share many of the same
values as your family and friends, but some of your choices will differ from theirs because your values differ.
The great benefit of having such a guide to turn to when faced with a difficult decision is that you can
both step away from the emotion and pressure of a situation and, at the same time, turn to a system that
truly represents who you are as a person—someone with integrity who can be counted on to make a
reasoned and thoughtful choice.