Hello steemians. I welcome you again to the people building blog. My last post was on Becoming a generational leader and I hope you were inspired by it.
Originally, I was supposed to bring you the next episode of the series but hey, I found this topic I thought is going to be very interesting, educative and thought provoking. Sit tight and enjoy it.
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This topic particularly became interesting to me in recent times.
Having observed the unfolding of events in my country in recent times and being an active participant of small groups and organisations, some of which I hold privileged leadership positions, I began to ponder on the relationship between ethical behaviours and building a virile community.
What is ethics?
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Ethics can be defined as a set of rules or standards governing the conduct by which one lives his life and makes all his decisions.
Where do they come from?
Ethics don't just fly out of thin air. From our earliest days of life, we start to learn things from our environment. These learned behaviors add to our in-born traits and help to shape us into the person we will become. This learning process also initiates us into developing what will soon become our norms.
Norms are our everyday way of looking at how the world around us works and helps us to understand our place in the world. Norms also govern how we react to different situations and problems that arise around us. These are our ethics; the things we learn as we grow that govern the rest of our lives.
Importance Of Ethics.
The importance of ethics in community building cannot be overemphasised. Ethics are very important in building safe and stable communities for a couple of reasons.
To begin with, ethics are important because they give us a foundation for understanding what is right or wrong in our day to day interactions with members of our community. It somewhat positions us to have a ready understanding of how to react to a certain situation long before that situation occurs.
When ethics are not in place, objectivity will be lost. This tends to make us react to situations and circumstances based on the dictates of the situation. Situations readily determine our position when ethics are not in place. This causes unprincipled decision making which of course can lead to chaos.
Again, ethics are important because they help us make quick and correct decisions. Assessing a knotty situation with your ethics in mind gives you a quick idea of the way forward. Ethics helps you identify the "chaffs"at first sight, eliminate them as you continue to aim for the" wheath."
Thirdly, ethics are important because they can be passed onto others within the community. When we imbibe the ethical way of behaviour, others within our circles tend to emulate us. On the long run, this will help spread the reach of ethical and moral behaviours in our families, business organisations and communities at large.
Also, ethics promotes integrity of an individual. When there is integrity in a community, there will be trust which is a greatly needed for community building.
Lastly, ethics give the much needed solution to the challenge of character instability, character inconsistency and waverings which is prevalent in our ever-changing world. You can't be ethical and not be solidly consistent in character. Good moral standards and ethical behaviours promotes a consistent and formidable community.
How then do I create my ethics?
Have a clear picture of what is morally acceptable and what is not. You may want to pen them down too.
Model desired ethical behaviors from mentors.
Reinforce ethical behaviours and don't reinforce the unethical.
Focus on being selfless at all times. Selflessness promotes ethical behaviours.
Surround yourself with the atmosphere and relationships that promote ethical behaviours.
Conduct regular self assessment to see how you are faring.
The Role of Religious Institutions.
Religious institutions are key to building ethical behaviours in the citizenry of any nation. Our religious institutions which, of course are acclaimed center of morality, need to be more proactive in teaching and encouraging the virtues of love, peace, patience and forgiveness in their congregation.
Our communities need to become a better place.
Nigerians, Africans and the world at large need to begin to heed the clarion call to build better societies. Online communities are not also left out.
Nigerians, leaders and followers alike, must shun bribery and curruption of all kinds that has so eaten deep into the fabrics of our dear Nation.
We need to reposition for good moral values and ethical standards. We need to imbibe and project the good standards of peace, unity, equality and justice that our founding fathers once stood for.
This, of course is where i think we must start from.
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