In
their own Words: Virtues that Teens Value
Dér Stépanos Dingilian, Ph. D. ©
2000
The top ten spiritual virtues or values are given above in the order of their importance as these saw it. ‘Love’ was the most important virtue while ‘creative’ according to this group was the tenth most important. Now let us turn to these top ten virtues and find out how our young people related these to their lives.
Love - It is encouraging to find out that in the midst of all the opportunities available for these young people, Armenian teens still see ‘love’ as the most important spiritual virtue in life. “If you don’t have love in your life,
its empty and miserable!” stated a teen. “Without love people’s lives would be very lonely. You need to nourish your soul,” said another. A number of teens made similar points adding up to: “Without love people feel empty.” One summed up by saying: “Love is everything!”
Honesty - This was very important among the teens’ priorities. It surfaced in a number of surveys. Coming to an Armenian Church camp, they expected that peers and others will be honest and sincere with them so they can trust each other. They expressed this need in a number of ways: “You need a special honest someone you can share your life with.” Another stated: “If people don’t trust each other they cannot be good friends.” The teens also saw the importance of honesty towards themselves: “You need honesty because if you are not true to yourself and the people around you, you won’t be able to trust yourself and those around you.”
Responsibility - It was interesting that most respondents interpreted ‘responsibility’ as ‘attaining something you believe in’ as opposed to ‘fulfilling a task your are asked to accomplish by others.’ Nevertheless, a typical answer was: “A person should be able to take care of themselves. Without responsibility, success is very hard to achieve.”
Self Discipline - This was is a must for many participants. One typical reason: “It is important to have a hold on yourself and prioritize your time.” And another, “you need self discipline or you won’t succeed and you won’t get anything done!” Self discipline was also seen important for others’ sake: “You have to discipline yourself because you set models for others through your own actions. You must be able to control yourself!”
Trusting God - The statements were very straight forward in most cases typified by: “You need to trust God no matter what He may say.” Another more philosophical response: “In life things will go wrong. You might do bad on an exam or something, but you must trust in God and know that He is always with you and all that happens it is because God wants it that way.”
Wisdom - The responses varied in very interesting ways: “You need to be smart!” “Knowledge is power and lack of knowledge is lack of power.” “Being wise allows you to view and interpret various events and occurrences in your life with maturity.” And finally, “Being wise will keep you from mistakes.”
Faith - “Faith keeps a person going strong in their life and morals. Gives a person something to live for” said one teen. A number of others perceived faith as giving meaning to their life. Here is typical response: “Without faith there would be no hope or purpose to my life.” ’Faith’ was seen more as believing in oneself as opposed to belief in God. Here is an example: “You need to have faith in everything you do. If you give up in yourself then you won’t succeed.”
Courage - It was surprising that these young people perceived ‘courage’ as being important. But, it is an indication of the difficulties they face and simultaneously the thoughtfulness with which they approach their relationships: “You cannot do anything without courage behind you because you cannot learn anything new if you keep repeating the old. You must experience the new and you cannot do that without courage.” Here are two more responses: “A person needs to have courage to do what he wants,” and “you need courage to overcome harsh substance.” And finally: “No guts, no glory!”
Forgiveness - This was also high on the priority list of many teens. It is typified by this statement: “Life is too short to never forgive. So while you are still alive, you should always forgive.”
Creativity - The teens highly valued creativity and recognized its importance in life: “Creativity makes life fun and enjoyable. Shows individuality. Takes stress away from life.” Creativity is also seen as a means to turn around difficulties in life: “One must be able to make the best out of what they have and make into something wonderful and unique.” And finally: “When you are creative you’ll never be bored in life. Creativity brings out many good things in life!”
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