Personal Values and Ethical Standards
Shelley Fischer
BSHS 331
October 11, 2011
Jenise Caetana

Personal Values and Ethical Standardss
I was born in the late 1950s and spent my childhood in the 1960s and teen years in the 1970s. My upbringing was shaped very much, by how I was taught and raised. My parents were both members of a conservative religious organization and so with that said I learned this way of thought. We were raised to believe that the 10 commandments were the basis of all things right and wrong, that if we followed them our lives would be as God wanted. Not to mention our parents! As a child, we first believe all that our parents teach us. They are like God to us and must be right no questions asked. I had by then my teachers and pastor to back up what they said. ‘Children are to be seen and not heard’ was one of my Father’s favorite quotes sometimes. I went to religious private school from first grade through my graduation from college. I know my Bible very well and I do believe in all it says, however I do not use it as a hammer as it was taught to me, to ensure those around me also believe exactly as I do.
I was a fearful child as I grew up; my parents did not like one another much. They had many arguments and I served as their go between more times than I like to remember. I was told also by my father, on more than one occasion, that if not for my brothers, sister and I, he would have been ‘gone long before’ so in spite of the fear of what was going on and not liking it, it was all I knew and the unknown was way more terrifying. As I grew and started to see that the adults in my life were not always correct, but I did not question the rules I was taught, probably because of the fear. I learned to not tell what I really thought but to go through the motions of what I was to be and do. However, I did not know or like me very much.