This is an image of community life painted by a participant in CommunityCafé .ie

Values 2

Just thinking about values in while walking in the park today. I was wondering why we follow the values that are the norm and why we need to have different values held up to us. Why do we need a vision and why are values so important in that vision.

I feel we all seek acceptance and approval and how better to get this than to follow the accepted prevailing values. At the moment a lot of the prevailing values are about growth, achievement and material acquisition.

Before there is a shift to more grounded values we need a vision painted that espouses new values and only when the new values have some social acceptance will a majority of people embrace them. Unfortunately the line people follow like sheep has validity, we need some social acceptability for the values we aspire . We need champions to espouse new values of social cohesion, well-being, equality before they gain widespread acceptance.

We have limited resource of energy, application , time and talent and it is important that these resources are applied to areas that make a difference.

Currently so much human endeavour is whittled away on mindless pursuits ... just look at X-factor , the apprentice Big Brother etc ... they are a fair barometer of the state of our current values.

We need a new vision articulated by you.