Civic Dispositions

Your values are what you give worth to. Values determine where you spend your time, energy and money. Your values, where you realize it or not, influence your daily choices and what's most important to you. If you are spending your time doing nothing, listening to bad music, watching innapropriate TV shows, getting in fights on facebook, you won't make as good of choices as the person who works, laughs, loves, sings, listens to uplifting music, serves, and smiles. Let's make our lifes full of happiness.

With one little action, the chain reaction will never stop. Make us strong.

Compassion

Compassion: Caring. Helping. Loving.
So, compassion. I love it when people are compassionate. You might not agree, but it is amazing. Compassion is charity.
Charity is simple. Charity is poor. Charity is plain.
Compassion and charity doesn't need to be some huge, expensive, beautiful gift. (Even though we all love gifts, right?) Just a smile can brighten someones day in ways you wouldn't understand.
Some people are miserable. It's sad. Some people never smile. Most people don't feel like they belong anywhere. Most people are self-concious. Just a smile and a hug can make people feel good about themselves. Just saying that So&So looks nice can make people want to be around you.
Everyone loves the person who is charitable, compassionate, kind, and caring. Everyone wants to be around that person.
So be that person that people find a great role-model, that people want to be around, that people trust, that people like.
And remember, a word is just a word until you mean what you say.
Compassion isn't overrated.

Courage

Courage: Willingness to stand up for what we believe in.

Courage is taking a step out of your comfort zone. So, this can be the most challenging civic disposition. It's not that we don't know how to have courage exactly, it's just that we are scared. Courage takes a great deal of bravery and, well, courage. Having courage is taking action.

Some examples are:

• You see someone messing with your friend. Or in plainer words, bullying. Now, what most people would do, would to wait until this "bully" were gone, and tell your friend how mean they are and how they shouldn't listen to what they are saying. But, if you were displaying courage, you would take action, and tell this "bully" that they need to stop. It's scary, and hard. But, it's right. It's what we believe.
• You see someone sitting alone. You feel bad for them, but you are scared. Of what? Well, maybe that your friends will make fun of you. Or maybe that the someone sitting alone won't like you, or want to talk to you. It just takes a lot of courage to walk over and sit there and talk to them. So most people would forget about it. But you need to take action. You should take action. Just make that first move. Have courage.

I don't know about you, but when I'm having courage, I normally get clammy, and feel so pathetic. But really, unless you are shaking, and have a painful face expression, people probably won't notice. They will just see you as being strong. So don't think too much about what your friends or classmates will think, just about what you are doing or who you are helping.

I know that courage is tough, but it's one of the most useful civic dispositions. With it, you can make a difference. Make a change.

Persistance

Persistance/Perserverance: Things may be hard, but you never give up. You are set to reach a certain point, and even if we fall trying to get there, we rise up again and try our hardest.

Persistance is hard. It is VERY hard. When things get tough, it's normal to want to just give up. And say, "Well, I didn't really want it that bad anyways." But believe it or not, you did want it. You are scared of failing again.
I like being persistant. I mean, of course it's hard, and it takes a lot of work, but I like feeling like I'm working toward something that means a lot to me. And when I reach the point I've been working toward, it feels wonderful knowing that I didn't give up.

Respect

Respect - Behaving in a way that shows respect for others in thought and action, treating others the way you want to be treated.

Respect is one of the most valued civic dispositions. Without it, everything would be chaos.

Respect is waiting your turn in line. Respect is helping someone with their books if they have a lot to carry. Respect is showing you are listening, and understanding what people are saying, respecting it, and caring.

Honesty

Honesty-the ability to live truthfully & stand up for what is right, even if it's difficult.

To me, honesty is the most important civic disposition. I try to be as honest as possible.

Honesty can mean telling the truth. It can mean not cheating. It can mean standing up to your bestfriend, because it's what's right. These are all good ways of being honest.

When I think of being honest, I think of living honest. So everything you say, everything you do, everything you breathe becomes honest.

And if this doesn't make sense, think of it this way.

Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling. Truth speaking. Truth living. And truth loving.