9. Ethics and Values

1 Bravery- courage

2 Focus- staying on topic

3 Forgiveness- not focusing on others wrongdoings

4 Generosity- sharing well

5 Self Control- restraint

6 Humor- keep things lively

7 Loyalty- trustworthy

8 Reliability- dependable

9 Organization- keeping things in place

10 Sincerity- expressing honest feelings or opinions

11 Diligence- perseverance

12 Cooperation- able to comply

13 Patience- camly waiting

These are important values that I plan to be working on for the assignment. My ethics and values now are not much different than this list, I just need to be held accountable for carrying these out better.

Ethics and values are different for every person. They are as individual as fingerprints. The values of a devoted Catholic person will most assuredly be dramatically different from those of prostitute or a criminal (duh). This is an extreme example of the differences, but it is present everywhere, just maybe not as obvious.

I think that one of my main values, which I do not really need a lot of help in is honesty. Brute and straightforward. I will always (well, pretty much always) be extremely honest. I will tell it like it is, even if that means the persons hears what they don't want to. I am not gonna sugar coat anything for someone who wants my honest opinion. Like my fourth grade teacher taught us, and I think this is why I feel so strongly about telling the truth no matter how much it hurts, if someone asks you an honest question, it is only fair to give them an honest answer. There have been several instances where someone asks me a question and I felt obligated to tell them the truth, even if it was not what they wanted to hear, they were better off in the long run having someone tell them the truth. In return, I like it when people tell me the truth, whether it be what I want to hear or not, or if I THINK it is what I want to hear, I appreciate the honesty. It says more about a person when they can tell you the truth, because anyone could lie to you, it takes a real friend to tell you the truth even when it's not the greatest news. That is why I have honesty as one of my main values.

8. Partners

Sometimes working with a partner can be beneficial, while sometimes it is not helpful. For some people, they work better with someone to depend on to take part of the load and for others they prefer to work alone so they know that they deserve the grade they get and it's not on account of anyone else's error.


I'm the kind of person who is indifferent when it comes to partner work. I do not care if I work alone, and I do not care if I have a partner. It usually does not matter to me. There have been times where partner work has helped me, has hurt me, and has just been...work with a partner.


Just about a week ago, Hallie and I worked as partners for a history project. We both knew that with each other as partners we were sure to do a good job on the project since both of us make it a point to do well in school. We also knew that with each other as our partner, neither of us would have to carry significantly more work than the other. It ended up running smoothly as we each had our own tasks, and the final product, our board game Pirates or Privateers, ended up being really cool.

There was one time my freshmen year that my partner did not prove to be as cohesive as Hallie was. I do not remember the specifics of the project in my engineering class (intro to engineering) but I do remember that my partner, who was from New Berlin, ended up doing next to nothing on our project and I was mad that even though we got an A, I had to do all the work for that A and my partner got to slack off the whole time.

Sometimes, partners don't hurt or help necessarily, they just aid in comprehension. I know that in my precalculus class, we work with a partner almost every day to do some practice problems. I find this very helpful, because if I don't understand a certain concept, my parnter can usually help me understand it, and vice versa.

7. Organized Religion

Organized religion can mean different things to everyone who hears the name. To some it can be appealing, while to others it is repulsive and unattractive. I grew up in a religious family, so the topic of organized religion is not new to me at all, and does not bother me in the slightest when I hear those words like it may to some people. West Side Christian Church is the church I attend when I go. I think it is a nice church, it has a persuasive preacher and a good band. There are many other churches around Springfield and Pleasant Plains, but I have never been to any of them besides West Side (other than my grandparent's church in Beardstown, but we have only gone there a few times on holidays). Because I have only ever attended one church, I can not really state any opinions of any of the other churches. I am also not very knowledgeable on the view of other religions. I know there are Christian, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Presbyterian, and all of the Middle Eastern and Asian religions like Islamic, Buddist, and Hindu, but other than that I am not aware of other religions. I think that organized religion can usually be a good thing, but not always. There are some churchs or religions that will threaten or kill people if they do not follow that specific religion and its ideas. There is not a lot of that in America, but more in the Middle Eastern area.


Religion is important to so many people in one way or another. Agree with it or not, it can affect you and the way you look at certain situations. For most religious people, their religion is a big part of their lives. It can help them through a tough time when it seems like there is no one else there but God. To others, it is not important whatesoever, sometimes even offensive. I feel bad for those who can't be open to religion and see what it can do for them, because until they experience it for themselves, how will they ever know what its like or how it can feel? And even if they do try it out a few times, that won't give them a full understanding of what's going on. It seems to me like atheists or agnostic people make hasty judgements without doing their research, because if one of them took the time to look deeper into religion and what its based on, they would be suprised.

6. Blame

Blame: to hold responsible; find fault with; an act of attributing fault; censure; reproof. That is the actual definition of blame. A less formal definition would be: when someone fears they will be in trouble for something and they point fingers to someone else to reflect the attention off themselves. This concept is very common, even in everyday life. It was especially common when we are children. We never wanted to get in trouble with our parents, so if something bad were to happen and we knew we could get it trouble for it, we would blame someone else right away. The classic line in every movie where two kids break something and their parents come in on it is, "HE(or she) DID IT!" in unison with the fingers pointed to each other. This basically represents the blame that goes on now as teenagers and adults, only more juvenile than what we do. As we get older, it is easier to blame someone else in my opinion. Our lies are less noticeable and it is not always easy to tell if the blamed person is actually guilty or not. Blame can also provide a reputation for someone, or even reflect that person's reputation. Now, at our particular lunch, if something goes 'missing' or is messed with, everyone tends to blame me whether I did it or not. This is because I have quite a reputation built up that would usually qualify me as the first person to go to in these situations. And I am proud of this reputation! Unless, that is, I did not actually do it sometime, then I still get blamed and it gets difficult to convince them that it was not my doing. In fact, if anything in general ever goes wrong, it is usually blamed on me. I tend to be the source of bad luck amongst my friends. So what I am trying to say, is everyone blames, and everyone gets blamed. It is one of those things you just can't really avoid. Sometimes it can be harmless, but for more important matters, it really counts.

5. My True Colors Personality

There are four main personalities, and they are each associated with a color. There is orange, gold, green, and blue. Orange people are spontaneous, fun loving, courageous, and not so bound by rules or authority. Gold people are very organized and pretty much the opposite of orange people. If you are green, it means you are a logical thinker, scientific, and analytical. Blue people are generally emotional and creative, to sum it up.

When I took the true colors test last year in Mr. Tadla's health class, my main color was orange, and the secondary color was green. When I took it a few days ago, I was surprised to see that blue was my first color and orange was my secondary color. The test said that the blue personality had characteristics of a heart-felt communicator, compassionate, emotional, and they bring out the best in others. I do not think I am a blue at all. I am not a good communicator, not compassionate at all, and not emotional at all. I am not sure how I got these results since they do not describe me in the slightest. I think that the results I got from health class were more appropriate for me. I think I am very much a orange and green person. Orange is more spontaneous, courageous, persuasive, and resourceful. I think that those characteristics fit me better than the blue do. Green being my secondary color, is also close to my personality at some points. In certain situations it is neccesary for me to be logical and analytical (like green), when most of the time I am very undecisive and random (like orange).

When I previously had taken the test, it was a layout where there was 4 words and you had to number them one through four in order of which fit you best. I think that the results from this style would be more accurate than answering just yes or no to a question. While this version of the true colors test is not quite as accurate in my opinion, it is still interesting to think about your personality.

4. They way I identify/categorize people.

I think that the way I identify people is the general way people get identified. There are different identifications at different places. At school, there is the largest variety of people to categorize. There are jocks, geeks, preps, scenes, emos, rednecks, and the leftovers who do not really fit into a specific category. At this school, the categories are not set in stone, due to the small size. However, there are some people who are undeniably in one category. Take the freshman this year for example. I have noticed several people, girls and guys, who would traditionally fall into the 'emo' category, or emo posers, which are just annoying but that is a different story. There are a few sparse scene girls, and perhaps one, maybe two goths. I put these three categories together because they can sometimes be confused for one another, even though they are dramatically different. Another category would be jocks, which is not too extreme at Pleasant Plains because most of the athletes are involve in other things and could put placed in another category as well. Preps however, they are pretty obvious in each grade. They are easy to spot from a mile away. Rednecks, well, there are definitely a good number of them at our school, but that is expected. Even though there can sometimes be cookie cutter ideas of people, they could be very different from what you initially expect. That is where the saying, 'you can't judge a book by its cover' comes in. For some people, this saying can be applied, while for others, they are just as they seem. Another way we categorize people is by wealth. It seems like the more money you have, the better you are, and vice versa. This is could be worse than judging people by what they look like, because a lot of the time, people are born into their money or lack there of and can not get out of their category until they have the opportunity to get a job. It is known that a first impression is established within the first fifteen seconds of meeting someone. This makes it difficult to get a good idea of who someone is without looking at the outside. While I try not to judge people based on how they dress or their apparent monetary status, it is hard to avoid it.

3. What it would be like to lose everything.

To lose everything would be one of the worst possible things to happen in my opinion. It would be so devastating that I would not know what to do. I would probably feel very scared and pretty lost. If losing everything included just house, car, and other possessions, I do not think it would be nearly as bad as if it included family as well. Just thinking about losing everything is hard to think about, so I can not even imagine how mortifying it would be if it actually occurred like it did to Anne Bradstreet. However, Bradstreet was very religious and knew that God could get her through anything and keep her strong for she knew that her earthly possessions were not nearly as important as her relationship with God, which she could not simply lose in a house fire. Her story sort of gives me more peace when I contemplate the thought of losing everything suddenly. I like to think that if God were to take everything away from me, He would also take care of me and keep me strong. It would be hard no doubt, but faith would be enough if that was all I had. There are also a few different approaches that could be taken to deal with the loss. One way would be to be openly remorseful and not hold anything back. The alternative would be keeping yourself composed among other people and letting it go when you were alone. I do not think one of these options is better than the other, it would just depend on the person or personality. I myself would most likely gravitate towards the inner remorse based on my own personality and some past situations. However, I can not be entirely sure how I would react to that specific situation seeing as I have never actually lost everything, which I am most definately glad about, and for the time being, I chose not to think too hard about it would really be like for that to happen.

2. The importance of written or documented rules

It seems like there are rules for everything these days. Some are written down, and some are just understood. When rules are written down, they generally are followed more precisely. There are several pros to writting down rules that one hopes to enforce. If there is an actual place where someone can refer back to a rule, it is much easier to hold someone accountable when they have been accused of breaking said rule. Alternatively, rules that are just assumed or understood are easier to break and there is less evidence against someone when they break the rule, for there is no actual documentation, just word of mouth. The main reason rules should be written down is because if they are not, they will most likely be broken more often with fewer consequences. If there were no rules or punishments for breaking the rules, people would run around doing whatever they want and no one would be able to tell them not to. America's set of rules ultimately comes from the Constitution. The enforcers of these rules are police officers, judges, and anyone else in an authoritative position. For Christians, rules come from the Bible in the form of the Ten Commandments. There is punishment for breaking the rules, but it is not exactly definite due to grace, mercy, et cetera. The enforcer of these rules would be, well, God. In any given household, there are sets of rules, each unique depending on the family. Most of the time there are not written rules for a family, so they are simply understood. This makes it a little more difficult for the enforcers of the rules, the parents, especially if they do not agree on the rules. Behavior expectations are much more clear for everyone involved when rules are established and even more so when they are recorded in the form of a law or constitution or contract. There is a saying "ignorance of the law excuses no man", which refers to the notion a person may not plead innocent just because they are unaware of a law. If a law exsists, people are responsible for knowing it and acting accordingly.