by Nirvana

Created on: January 10, 2009

A famous saying in Sanskrit teaches the following:

Knowledge gained from books, is like wealth obtained in charity;

Knowledge gained from experience, is the true knowledge with no parallel.

Values, morals, ethics, call my whatever name, is the deepest and most sacred knowledge that one can imbibe. Our life is the biggest encyclopaedia and each of our experiences a rich chapter.

It is very important to first understand the basic nature of an individual's value-system. Firstly, a person's value changes with the social and personal environment that he (or she) lives in. Secondly, it is a myth that values should be rock-solid. One should not change values at every instance, it would amount to having no values or blatant opportunism. However, it is a fact that our values do change with time and experience, in a way that an individual feels satisfied with himself (or herself) as a person.

The value-system of an individual starts forming from a very young age. Children, tend to learn mostly from their surroundings, especially from the adults (their parents and teachers) around them. A child who observes his father lying will certainly end up lying more than a child who grows up with truthful parents. A child who has the experience of being punished for every small mistake, will never learn the virtues of forgiving. To that child, forgiveness would be an act of cowardice. Also, he or she would never learn to own up mistakes or failures, because the fear of being punished would prevent him (or her) from doing so. In schools, if they find their teachers fair and impartial, they are more likely to grow up as honest and unbiased individuals.

Values or vices picked up at a tender age leave a lasting impression. As a child grows up, these values can change but some of them remain well ingrained in a persons character. Many observations and studies have proven that values and vices acquired in childhood can be subdued through strict disciplining or nurturing love, but they can never be completely removed. They lie dormant, and later in life a slight provocation or incident can bring them out in open.

Adolescence is perhaps the next stage when people acquire more values and vices, rather passively. Passively, because like children, who due to their believing and blissful nature, tend to pick up values (or vices) from the elders they trust; youngsters due to their emotive and adventurous nature also start believing in things easily. And they are most likely to believe in things that

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