"TO BE SURE OF HITTING THE TARGET, SHOOT FIRST. AND WHATEVER YOU HIT, CALL IT THE TARGET." - ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT
Values and Standpoint
As a middle class, white female, I have grown up with certain perceptions and attitudes about life that might contrast largely with someone of a different gender, class, race, and cultural background. However, I know my values, standpoint, and beliefs were learned and practiced through my immediate environment starting from my childhood. As I developed into an adolescent, my values expanded within my school, church, and community of friends and became more complex in understanding new perspectives other than the influence of my family.
According to the article Baseball and Roots, Patricia Fabiano describes standpoint through baseball. She explains that you see the world from the position in which you play. “...what I am able to see and understand and what I am unable to see and understand because of the point at which I stand in my life. Standpoint refers to your position in the world, the angles from which you look at life, other people, and society.” (Fabiano) Due to my standpoint, I have seen the world in different ways as I have developed my beliefs and understandings. Altogether, I see the world from my viewpoint yet move around to different positions to get a new view. I believe this is how I have grown to understand my values in life.
The idea of a value, or something of worth has changed its meaning throughout my life. My ideas of values as an adolescent related to my Jesuit Catholic background and strongly corresponded with my mother’s personal values. I looked up to my mother and believed she was right about everything. My mother was the one who raised me to be Catholic, taught me how to love, how to remain true to myself, and how to do what is right rather than what is easy.
After many experiences and growing apart from the church I still hold an appreciation stemmed from a religious background without living a faith filled life. This proves the development of values or an idea that is more complex and better understood as time goes on and more of the world is exposed. Although I do not believe what the Catholic church believes, I value many ideas that come from my past. The process of developing values goes through the process of experiences, new perspectives, uncomfortable situations, and questioning. Through my teenage years I started to question new ideas as I experienced them and that led me to understand my immediate environment in a different light.
My personal views are clearly rooted from my Catholic background, such as political, religious, and social values. Although they are not directly derived from Catholic social teachings, my beliefs are similar to the church. The idea of life and dignity for every human, a call to family and community, living in solidarity, being responsible, and working to better the lives of the poor and vulnerable are all Catholic views that I still hold onto. I still believe these same views although now from a non-religious perspective. More specifically, the Jesuit community, that holds a liberal perspective, has a high emphasis on helping the poor community. By living this belief through my actions growing up, I have learned how much I value this.
Today, the definition of a value has a different meaning to me. Rather than holding a certain value or position on a religious or political stance, it is more of a way to live life. It is more about the attitudes and convictions that is portrayed through an action. Some values are held higher than others, and some values challenge me to come out of my comfort zone. That could mean anything from uncomfortable interactions with others, or personal goals and ways of thinking for myself to follow up on. I personally hold high expectations for myself to have a positive outlook on life. I do not mean to be positive and turn away from the negative aspects or have any form of ignorance, but to embrace what is difficult and actively do something about it. Some of my aspirations in life will be challenging, considering there are things I have little experience with but have a passion and curiosity as I expect I will live up to my goals. Most of all, I value relationships and friendships. Although I have had negative experiences with friends and have lost trust in most of my past friends, I still hope to find somebody I know will be there. I am very cautious, but am willing to open up to the possibility of trusting somebody else. As humans we are social beings. We need each other, and the fact that we can develop love, laughter, and friendship is an incredible gift.
As I continue to progress through life, I have to remember the validity of life experiences from my eyes and from the eyes of others. I believe pain makes us stronger and the ability to open up to new possibilities is a difficult thing to do. It is important to see the good in people if we are going to make any changes in our lives and the people who surround us. I value people’s experiences even if I cannot relate from a personal standpoint, I know there is a reason they have their own views and I want to understand that reason.
What I am able to see and understand and what I am unable to see and understand is because of the point at which I stand in my life. I value education and the ability to question. The more education I receive, the more questions I have, and the more questions do not have a direct answer. The complexity of the world and the psychology of humans, although understood from an educational perspective, remain unpredictable. We do not know what this world will be like in the future. I want to educate myself and continue to experience life from new cultural, class, and racial backgrounds to fully understand how to pursue equality and justice between the diverse people and complex systems in this world. Human Services will open up diverse and miscellaneous opportunities in a way that I cannot foresee now, but I am ready to have experiences to develop my understanding of people and how I interact with them.