I. PURPOSE:
The formation of a corporation whose activity is to teach, encourage, reinforce, and generally foster the inculcation of Universal Human Values through the use of images.
II. RATIONALE
We believe that there are universal human values which can be agreed upon by almost all reasonable persons. These values have been and still are recognized in all cultures and by all major religions. They encompass what man generally calls "good".
These are often referred to as HUMAN VALUES & VIRTUES. They encourage what we call MORAL behavior, towards the world in general and towards one's fellow man in particular. We believe that concern for moral behavior is inherent in man but that its development and inculcation into general behavior require teaching, training, emphasis, positive feedback and an environment which fosters, and encourages it. We believe that teaching and nurturing these human values and virtues is a worthy and desirable endeavor with the goal of developing better and more moral persons and citizens. We also believe that its accomplishment is heavily dependent upon recognition,teaching and reinforcement of these values in early childhood.
The family and the churches remain the mainstay in teaching, nurturing and developing moral behavior among their members. They remain even today, the most powerful forces for the teaching and encouragement of these universal human values. They are and should remain so. But none today would deny that their task has become increasingly difficult, meeting with less success than in the past. Their force in many lives has been diminished and even removed. When individuals and institutions of a society are weakened in their roles of teaching and perpetrating these human values, society suffers and the inadequately indoctrinated individuals usually suffer as well. These individuals and institutions require help and assistance from governmment, from business, from private organizations, and from society at large. It is for the purpose of assisting families and parents, teachers, employers, and leaders in teaching, fostering and encouraging the development of these universal human values and time-honored virtues and morals that VALUES, INC. is committed.
PLAN:
Our plan is to form a for-profit corporation which will raise funds via the sale of common stock. The company will assume the tasks of:
1. Developing a list of ethical concepts and moral values and virtues which will serve as the basis for developing images which will foster and encourage them. (see Ethical Resources Institute)
2. Develop conceptual characters whose appearance, demeanor, and behavior and deeds will bear witness to the value of these ethical and moral virtues. These will be produced by professional artists, through art contests, or developed by individuals.
3. To develop images in the form of posters, artistic displays, cartoon characters, children's story books, games, toys, figures such as stuffed dolls and other image-artifacts, representing these characters and their associated human moral values and virtues.
4. To market these items to toy stores, schools, day care centers and to encourage their display in homes, schools, entertainment centers and other places where children may gather.
5. To make these items available at cost to The Institute For Applied Philosophy whose public charitable service to the community is parallel to that of Values, Inc. or to license these items to IAP to use in its projects.
6. To patent any characters and images which Values, Inc should develop and to license their use by other companies, businesses or agencies which may be in keeping with the goals and purposes of Values, Inc.
We believe that parents, teachers and educators concerned with teaching children are also concerned about the clear deterioration of public morality and are willing to purchase these items to encourage the development of these characteristics and traits in their own children and students. We believe the learning and inculcation of these moral and ethical values will produce better human beings who will live higher quality and happier lives. We believe our products will be found desirable and that they will be purchased for use by parents, individuals, teachers, educators, those interested in fostering moral education to children, etc..
The primary purpose of Values, Inc. is not to earn profit, but to serve a human need and to satisfy a strong human desire, namely development of decent, moral children who will carry their ideals into adulthood and become better citizens. This will be accomplished through teaching universal human values using images. If this goal is met, the company will thrive and profit should naturally follow.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS AND INFORMATION:
1. Ethical Resources, a non-profit organization which makes literature and other teaching and informational material available to individuals and organizations interested in Morals and Ethics, has been involved in assessing and developing a program for teaching values to children in the public schools of Baltimore.
They formed a committee to develop a list of values which was then used to develop a program for teaching and fostering them in the schools.
A list of human values could include:
1. Kindness (awareness of human sensitivity)
2. Respectfulness (awareness of the intrinsic value of every person)
3. Integrity (to keep your word, your promises; to carry out your duties, to support your beliefs)
4. Honesty (take only what you earn, do what you promise, stand by your agreements, avoid guile, cleverness, lies, deception, falseness, scheming etc. To do what is right in your heart, to say so and to demonstrate it in action)
5. Truthfulness (say & tell only what you honestly believe to be correct or true). Avoid lies and verbal deception)
6. Temperance (self-control, self-restraint, self- discipline, perhaps the most important of the virtues in today's world of destructive temptations.)
7. Courage (to proceed to do what is right or desirable in spite of fear).
8. Responsibility (to remain and persist in performing one's duties, carrying out one's natural or agreeed upon contracts, initiating, bearing the burden, being the leader when these roles fall to you).
9. Loyalty (standing by your word, your friends, your employers, your people, your team, and not relinquishing your position or role for gain)
10. Duty (doing and bearing the responsibility for carrying out acts which are expected of you by virtue of your place, position or agreements, in spite of personal difficulties, suffering or temptations do to otherwise.
11. Persistence (to continue in the face of resistance, difficulty, obstruction, tiredness, tediousness etc. Persistence usually insures success of any viable project.
12. Politeness (gentle, graceful, kind behavior, even to strangers as a routine way of dealing with other people. Avoiding obtrusive behavior, overly overt, aggressive behavior which disturbs)
13. Helpfulnes (a general tendency and inherent propensity to assist and aid another person in need)
14. Effort (the persistent expenditure of power and energy
in trying to accomplish a task, carrying out a job or
15. Concern for others (Love) Concern is the essential element in love. But concern is not sufficient. Love requires a demonstration of this concern. And the concern must be for the good or well-being of the loved one. In short, love is beneficent concerned action toward another.
16. Forgiveness (the tendency to let past events fade away and lose the sting and negative influence which allows one to go on and have further mutual dealings with another.
17. Understanding (to understand is to forgive. This is because understanding explains why something did happen. Complete, God-like understanding of the entire universe would also reveal why it also had to happen, all things considered, as all the powers at play clashed together at that moment and played themselves out. Perfect understanding is a function of the Perfect Intellect and would yield the perfect explanation which would answer allquestions and leave no more - only acceptance)
18. Tolerance (the ability to temper some of our natural impulses and perhaps natural mistrust and dislike toward those different from ourselves.
19. Humility (a sign of the human being whose intellect is his servant and not his slave; one who truly knows the nature of things and his place and relationship to them.
20. Right Attitude (the key to successful carrying out of one tasks, duties, plans and intentions which will lead to satisfaction on one's own part and on the part of those who he may be working for.)
21. Decency (a general attitude and tendency to treat and everything with respect, worthy of kindness, politeness, consideration and emphasized the better aspects of humanity in our attitudes, endeavors and goals.
22. Dignity (because of intellect or LOGOS, man has the reflective ability to realize THAT HE IS, to create a conception of WHAT HE IS, WHAT HE SHOULD DO and HOW HE SHOULD BEHAVE. His general judgment of himself as more than just an animal, as a creature who not only knows but also realizes, who thereby enjoys more but also suffers more than the other animals.
23. Genuiness (to be what you are, to demonstrate what and who you are deepest inside, to be free of guile and deceit in all conversation;
24. Openess (to be able and willing to demonstrate in action word and deed what you feel to be true without the attitude of defensiveness or self-consciousness or self-concern which inhibits most people.
Original conception for Values, Inc. was by Mr. Marvin Greenhut
A. Iosue
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