For two decades, I have waved goodbye and dropped off my children at school, and said these simple words to them, “Be good, be kind, save the world.”
Last week I uttered these words and waved goodbye for the final time as the last of our three children prepared to graduate from high school.
As a species, our Darwinian purpose in life is to reproduce: give birth to children and pass on our genes. The genes that determine their eye color or skin tone, the shape of their nose or the sound of their voice. But as parents, our purpose in life is greater — it is to pass on our values.
Values are the software of life, if genes are the hardware. Values define who we are as a person in society. Values make society into a culture and culture into a civilization. Values are what we hold sacred more than the house, the office building, the stadiums and the skyscrapers.
Values come from parents and also from our society, our country, our heritage, our religion and our traditions. Some human values are honesty and selflessness. Some American values are freedom and justice.
The passing of the baton of values over generations doesn’t just happen; it has to be cultivated during dinner conversations and car conversations, during vacations and daily chores. What values we want to cultivate is our individual choice.
Just as there are mutations in our genes, there can be mutations in our values.
Conceit, for example, can overtake humbleness, anger can override forgiveness, greediness can trump charity. Each generation strengthens or weakens the values they learn from their parents and grandparents. Much like the chromosome of human life, these values become part of the moral and ethical fabric of our society.
I am disappointed in ways because when I graduated from high school 35 years ago, I, in my idealistic thinking, was convinced that my generation would overcome or at least make more progress in the mess the past generation had dumped on us: racism, injustice and inequality. And yet as I watch Scott Pelley on the “CBS Evening News,” it is deja vu.
Still, I remain optimistic. Terrorism, autocratic rulers, air pollution from fossil fuels are blips in the history of civilizations. The human trajectory guided by our values is toward peaceful not belligerent times, spiritual, less materialistic lives, and innovative not habitual solutions.
So of the many values my children will cherish and pass on to future generations, here is what I want them to carry: compassion, respect and sharing. Compassion and love for all people, all living beings, as well as our environment. Respect for all views, even those they disagree with. Sharing our wealth and knowledge with others while balancing our own personal lives.
This is what I had in mind on the warm end of summer morning when I dropped them off to kindergarten, two decades ago, with the parting words: “Be good, be kind and save the world.”
Source: Commercial Appeal
