Learning Values

Value education is one of the important subjects taught in schools here. But, it is not necessary to learn values only through classroom teachings or from the prescribed books. We can also learn them through the incidents which occur in our daily life. I realised this when I got to notice a few interesting incidents in my surroundings.

One of them occurred recently on my way to school. I was seeing outside the window when I saw a woman in a great hurry to get somewhere. She was in such a hurry that she fell on the ground hitting a rock. Others rushed and helped her get up. I remembered the value we had learnt — haste makes waste.

I have also noticed many other incidents. Once, I saw two sisters playing on a see-saw in a park. The younger one was high up in the air when suddenly her sister left the see-saw in a hurry for some reason forgetting all about her. And she came down with a bump! I realised that the older girl should have been a little more careful.

Recently, one of my friends recalled her experience when she was made the group leader. All the members were best friends and kept talking only in their native language whether it was English or Arabic or any other period. They used to discuss in their language also for the projects.

I immediately recalled the lesson taught by my teacher, “You must respect the subject being taught to you and be in a team and co-operate with everyone in your group or your surroundings.”

The world is full of value education classes but we can learn only if we take note of them.

(Published in The Gulf Today on April 20, 2013)