STRUGGLES GAVE MORALS TO HUMAN LIVES

                               STRUGGLES GAVE MORALS TO HUMAN LIVES

  Our lives are incomparably easier when juxtaposed with the lives of our ancestors. Most of us living in the Western world don’t have to imagine what it would be like to hunt for our own food, grow our own crops, tend to a fire or, worst of all, entertain ourselves without our phones and computers.

    We currently live in the safest and most peaceful time in human history. Don’t let the news fool you. Sure, there may be threats of nuclear annihilation from time to time, but have you looked on the bright side?

• Crime rates have been steadily decreasing over the years, at or near an all-time low (in America at least)
• Life expectancy has risen more than 50 years over the last 1000 years
• Child mortality rates are plummeting due to continuously improving medical technology
• We are better educated than ever and we all have access to better education due to technology and the push for public education
• We are pulling people out of extreme poverty and are continuously expanding efforts to help educate and feed underdeveloped nations and their people

Life for people in the Western world has never been better. So then why are people, specifically young men, choosing to kill themselves and sometimes acting out their vengeance against life in senseless violence against the innocent?

Why are people living at the very top of modern civilization, with their millions of dollars and lavish lifestyles, choosing to end it all through drugs or other means?

Why has there been a surge in depression amongst young people who grew up in what is known to be the best time to live in human history?

I have struggled to find meaning in this world. I have struggled to find purpose, a drive to live life to the fullest, a goal that made this journey worth it.

    Ever since I was young, I was taught to chase the American Dream, to study hard and get into a good college, to get a stable and well-paying job, to marry and have some kids and buy a house and a car, to have the life that my parents could never have and sacrificed everything to give me an opportunity to attain it.

    Is the purpose of life to be happy? Is it to minimize suffering and maximize happiness? It sure seems like a good way to see life. It’s also easy to live in this mindset in the era we live in. Everything is available to us with money. Why not live in constant euphoria, living for the weekend to lose ourselves in our search to feel good through drugs, alcohol, and sex?

    This hedonistic lifestyle will only give us pain and suffering in the long run.

    We have lost what it means to struggle through life. We have become so pampered and want everything to be faster, cheaper, better — more, more, more.

    The people before us built up a great civilization and never got to reap its benefits. We are the recipients of a great nation that has been passed on from generation to generation. Things work now because of the hard work and sacrifice of millions of people who came before us. We came into the world and inherited it ungratefully, thinking like selfish brats and taking credit for the technology and infrastructure we never had to work for, and now we have no idea how to find our way forward.

In our comfort, we have forgotten the one thing that allows us to find meaning in this world — struggle.

    The history of humanity is a consistent struggle with nature and with itself. We have had to face countless adversities, sacrifice loved ones and experienced pain and suffering that none of us today can ever imagine living through.

What makes us heroic? — Confronting simultaneously our supreme suffering and our supreme hope.

Friedrich Nietzsche

    What inspires me about us is how despite all the problems, despite the inherent suffering of humans due to our consciousness, despite the betrayals and murders and corruption we have inflicted onto each other, we have always found ways to survive and carry on.

    We have always found ways to create and improve. We have always had significant figures who led humanity in the right direction, and we have staved off the ones who tried to lead us collectively into hell.

`    But none of the great works of the past could have come without struggle. None of the masterpieces in music and art we herald and enjoy to this day could have been gifted to the human race if individuals hadn’t conquered their own demons.

    We are all fighting inner demons and suffering in ways that no one else could fathom. If it’s not your friends or family members who are suffering, there is always a constant, perpetual and great battle raging in your consciousness.

    Maybe the most important fight that you must deal with in your life is within yourself. Maybe the purpose of your life is to win the inner battle, to defeat the dragon within you, to integrate your shadow into your being, to eradicate the self, the ego, the persona you have created for yourself and live authentically with courage.

    The Myth of Sisyphus tells you to push the heavy boulder up the mountain, even if you know it will fall to the bottom before you reach the top. Why are you pushing a boulder? Maybe it’s punishment for something you’ve done that you’ll never know. Why should you do it when you know that it will inevitably fall and that you will have to struggle, suffer and endure pain in your quest to push it up again? Well… what else are you gonna do? Sit there until you die? Might as well try again. At least it gives you something to do.

    It teaches you of the absurdity of life, but at the same time tells you to smile and do it all over again in the face of it all. Whenever I feel like I’m struggling, I try to not see it as a form of weakness or feel bad about my life compared to the lives of my peers. I know they’re all fighting their own battles in their own ways.

    These days, I try to see it as empowering. I try to see it as a sign that I am currently trying to work things out in my life, and this struggle is telling me I need to face my fears and break through this rut.

    I turn to this quote every time I feel like I need some inspiration. I have used this in several of my articles, but I feel that it is always fitting wherever I put it.

“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities — I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not — that one endures.”

                                                                 — Friedrich Nietzsche

    Your purpose in life is not to become so rich that you don’t have to do anything. Your purpose in life is not to get that high-paying, prestigious job and to have everyone jealous of you. Your purpose in life is not to indulge in euphoric conditions through drugs and alcohol.

Your purpose in life is to aim for the highest possible good in your life, to look within and find the things you can change and improve in yourself, to pursue the betterment of yourself and the people around you and society itself. Your purpose in life is to push the boulder up the mountain, even if it means absolutely nothing in the end.

    Your purpose in life is to face the suffering, not avoid it.

    Maybe we need to suffer to find meaning in our lives. Maybe we forgot how to suffer in our age of distractions and expediency.

    Stop looking for the meaning of your life in other things. Look into yourself, find the life path that is filled with hard work, sacrifices, and suffering, and run in that direction. Find what scares you the most, what you dream about doing but are reluctant to admit, and pursue it.

I’m willing to bet that you will find what you were looking for along the way.

THE DIFFERENCE OF BEING HUMAN MORALITY

     

                        THE DIFFERENCE OF BEING HUMAN MORALITY

    

     In The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871, Charles Darwin wrote: “I fully … subscribe to the judgment of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important.” I raise the question of whether morality is biologically or culturally determined. The question of whether the moral sense is biologically determined may refer either to the capacity for ethics (i.e., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong) or to the moral norms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. I propose that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature, whereas moral codes are products of cultural evolution. 

    Humans have a moral sense because their biological makeup determines the presence of three necessary conditions for ethical behaviour: 

(i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one's own actions;

 (ii) the ability to make value judgments; and 

(iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action. Ethical behaviour came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself but as a necessary consequence of man's eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection. That is, morality evolved as an exaptation, not as an adaptation. Moral codes, however, are outcomes of cultural evolution, which accounts for the diversity of cultural norms among populations and for their evolution through time.

    Humans are animals and have evolved from ancestors that were not human. But our “bodily frame,” as well as the capacities that stem from it, show also that we are a unique kind of animal, a unique kind of ape, with distinctive features, of which the moral sense is one and, if we are to agree with Darwin, the most important one. As Steven Pinker has written, “Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives each of us the sense that we are worthy human beings”. In this essay, I will examine morality as a consequential attribute among those that determine “the difference of being human.” At issue, of course, stands the evolutionary origin of morality

    Two conspicuous human anatomical traits are erect posture and a large brain. We are the only vertebrate species with a bipedal gait and erect posture; birds are bipedal, but their backbone stands horizontal rather than vertical (penguins are a trivial exception) and the bipedalism of kangaroos lacks erect posture and is drastically different from our own. Erect posture and bipedal gait entail other morphological changes in the backbone, hipbone, feet and others.

    Brain size in mammals is generally proportional to body size. Relative to body mass, humans have the largest brain. The chimpanzee brain has an approximate volume of 300 cm3; a gorilla is slightly larger. The human adult brain is more than three times larger, typically between 1,300 cm3 and 1,400 cm3. The brain is not only larger in humans than in apes but also much more complex. The cerebral cortex, where the higher cognitive functions are processed, is in humans proportionally much greater than the rest of the brain when compared with apes.

    Erect posture and large brain are not the only anatomical features that distinguish us from nonhuman primates, even if they may be the most obvious. Other notable anatomical differences include the reduction of the size of the jaws and teeth and the remodelling of the face; reduction of body hair and changes in the skin and skin glands; modification of the vocal tract and larynx, with important implications for spoken language; opposing thumbs that allow precise manipulation of objects; and cryptic ovulation, which may have been associated with the evolution of the nuclear family, consisting of one mother and one father with their children.

    Humans are notably different from the apes and all other animals in anatomy, but also and no less importantly in their functional capacities and behavior, both as individuals and socially. Most fundamental are the advanced intellectual faculties, which allow humans to categorize (see individual objects as members of general classes), think in the abstract and form images of realities that are not present (and, thus, anticipate future events and plan future actions), and reason. Other distinctive functional features are self-awareness and death awareness; symbolic (creative) language; tool making and technology; complex and extremely variable forms of cooperation and social organization; legal codes and political institutions; science, literature, and art; and ethics and religion.

    Humans live in groups that are socially organized, and so do other primates. But primate societies do not approach the complexity of the human social organization. A distinctive human social trait is culture, which may be understood here as the set of non–strictly biological human activities and creations. Culture in this sense includes social and political institutions, ways of doing things, religious and ethical traditions, language, common sense and scientific knowledge, art and literature, technology, and in general all of the creations of the human mind. Culture “is a pool of technological and social innovations that people accumulate to help them live their lives”. 

    The advent of culture has brought with it cultural evolution, a superorganic mode of evolution superimposed on the organic model, which has, in the last few millennia, become the dominant mode of human evolution. Cultural evolution has come about because of cultural change and inheritance, a distinctively human mode of achieving adaptation to the environment and transmitting it through the generations.

Moral Behavior

    I will define moral behaviour for the present purposes as the actions of a person who takes into account in a sympathetic way the impact the actions have on others. A similar definition is advanced, for example, by David Copp in The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory: “[W]e can take a person's moral beliefs to be the beliefs she has about how to live her life when she takes into account in a sympathetic way the impact of her life and decisions on others.” Altruism may be defined in a similar way as, for example, “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others”. Altruism, however, is usually taken to imply some cost to the altruist for the benefit of others, and this is the sense in which I will use “altruism” here. Moreover, “altruism” is often predicated on the behaviour of social insects and other animals, in which no intentionality is involved but rather comes about as a result of genetically determined behaviours. This is biological altruism, or altruism, in contrast to moral altruism, or altruism.

    I will use the term “ethical behaviour” as a synonym of “moral behaviour,” and “morality” and “ethics” as synonyms of each other, except when explicitly noted or contextually obvious that they are used with a somewhat different meaning. Some authors use “morality” or “virtue ethics” in a broader sense that would include good feelings in regard to others and exclude inappropriate thoughts or desires, such as entertaining sexual desires for somebody else's wife or wishes that something harmful would happen to others. So long as these thoughts or desires are not transformed into actions, they will not be included in my use of “morality.” Actions that may be thought to be evil or sinful in some moral systems, such as masturbation or eating pork, will not be included either in my use of “morality,” so long as the actions have no consequences for others.

Theories of Morality

    People have moral values; that is, they accept standards according to which their conduct is judged as either right or wrong, good or evil. The particular norms by which moral actions are judged vary to some extent from individual to individual and from culture to culture (although some norms, such as not to kill, not to steal, and to honour one's parents, are widespread and perhaps universal), but value judgments concerning human behaviour are passed in all cultures. This universality raises two related questions: whether the moral sense is part of human nature, one more dimension of our biological make-up; and whether ethical values may be products of biological evolution rather than being given by religious and other cultural traditions.

    When philosophers consider theories of morality they distinguish between metaethics, normative ethics, and practical ethics. Theories of metaethics seek to justify why we ought to do what we ought to do. They are the primary concern of philosophers, who favor different theories, such as “divine command” (God's commanding is what makes a particular kind of action moral); “moral realism” (there are moral facts; our moral judgments are made valid or not by the moral facts); “utilitarianism” (the moral value of an action is determined by the expected benefit to the largest number of people); “positivism” (there are no objective rational foundations for morality, but rather moral norms are determined by social agreement or, in the individual, by emotional decisions); “libertarianism” (moral values are measured by the extent to which they maximize personal freedom and limit the role of the state to the protection of individual freedoms); and several others.

    Normative ethics refers to the rules or laws that determine what we ought to do. Practical ethics considers the application of moral norms to particular situations, which often involve conflicting values: will abortion be justified to save the life of the mother?

    In practice, humans justify the set of moral norms they follow on several, not only one, metaethical doctrines. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century Christian theologian whose authority is highly respected up to the present, says that some moral laws come from divine authority (worship only one God), others from natural law (do not kill, Do not commit adultery), and still others from civil authority (respect private property, pay taxes).

    Aristotle and other philosophers of classical Greece and Rome, as well as many other philosophers throughout the centuries, held that humans hold moral values by nature. A human is not only Homo sapiens but also Homo moralis. For the last 20 centuries, the foundations of morality were an important subject for Christian theologians, as in the case of Thomas Aquinas, but also for philosophers, such as, in the 18th and 19th centuries, Hume, Kant, and others familiar to Darwin, including notably William Paley (The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, 1785; and Harriet Martineau (Illustrations of Political Economy), 1832–1834

MORAL ETHICS AND VIRTUE

                                                   MORAL ETHICS AND VIRTUE

    

    For many of us, the fundamental question of ethics is, "What should I do?" or "How should I act?" Ethics is supposed to provide us with "moral principles" or universal rules that tell us what to do. Many people, for example, read passionate adherents of the moral principle of utilitarianism: "Everyone is obligated to do whatever will achieve the greatest good for the greatest number." Others are just as devoted to the basic principle of Immanuel Kant: "Everyone is obligated to act only in ways that respect the human dignity and moral rights of all persons."

    Moral principles like these focus primarily on people's actions and doings. We "apply" them by asking what these principles require of us in particular circumstances, e.g., when considering whether to lie or to commit suicide. We also apply them when we ask what they require of us as professionals, e.g., lawyers, doctors, or business people, or what they require of our social policies and institutions. In the last decade, dozens of ethics centres and programs devoted to "business ethics", "legal ethics", "medical ethics", and "ethics in public policy" have sprung up. These centres are designed to examine the implications moral principles have for our lives.

    But are moral principles all that ethics consists of? Critics have rightly claimed that this emphasis on moral principles smacks of thoughtless and slavish worship of rules as if the moral life was a matter of scrupulously checking our every action against a table of do's and don'ts. Fortunately, this obsession with principles and rules has been recently challenged by several ethicists who argue that the emphasis on principles ignores a fundamental component of ethics--virtue. These ethicists point out that by focusing on what people should do or how people should act, the "moral principles approach" neglects the more important issue--what people should be. In other words, the fundamental question of ethics is not "What should I do?" but "What kind of person should I be?"

    According to "virtue ethics", there are certain ideals, such as excellence or dedication to the common good, toward which we should strive and which allow the full development of our humanity. These ideals are discovered through thoughtful reflection on what we as human beings have the potential to become.

    "Virtues" are attitudes, dispositions, or character traits that enable us to be and to act in ways that develop this potential. They enable us to pursue the ideals we have adopted. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues.

    How does a person develop virtues? Virtues are developed through learning and through practice. As the ancient philosopher, Aristotle suggested, a person can improve his or her character by practising self-discipline, while a good character can be corrupted by repeated self-indulgence. Just as the ability to run a marathon develops through much training and practice, so too does our capacity to be fair, to be courageous, or to be compassionate.

    Virtues are habits. That is, once they are acquired, they become characteristic of a person. For example, a person who has developed the virtue of generosity is often referred to as a generous person because he or she tends to be generous in all circumstances. Moreover, a person who has developed virtues will be naturally disposed to act in ways that are consistent with moral principles. The virtuous person is the ethical person.

    At the heart of the virtue approach to ethics is the idea of "community". A person's character traits are not developed in isolation, but within and by the communities to which he or she belongs, including family, church, school, and other private and public associations. As people grow and mature, their personalities are deeply affected by the values that their communities prize, by the personality traits that their communities encourage, and by the role models that their communities put forth for imitation through traditional stories, fiction, movies, and television, and so on. The virtue approach urges us to pay attention to the contours of our communities and the habits of character they encourage and instil.

    The moral life, then, is not simply a matter of following moral rules and of learning to apply them to specific situations. The moral life is also a matter of trying to determine the kind of people we should be and of attending to the development of character within our communities and ourselves 

PROMOTION OF MORAL VALUES THROUGH EDUCATION

                              PROMOTION OF MORAL VALUES THROUGH EDUCATION

 I. INTRODUCTION

     Moral values are guiding principles of life. They are responsible for the all-around development of an individual. Values reflect one's personality, attitude, behaviour, mission and vision. Values are the backbone of any personality, religion, society or nation. Moral values can bring in peace of mind, joyful environment, better quality of life, sustainability, harmony in the global society. Country like India has a tradition of moral values and its education at various stages. Being a diversified country in religion as well as geographical region moral education in India was basically through religious talks or otherwise. 

    Our country finds itself faced with serious tensions and challenges of corruption, casteism, linguaism, provincialism, and regionalism etc. Value-oriented education can go a long way in curbing these fissiparous tendencies and inculcate the sentiments of unity and solidarity among various sections of Indian society. Character is the foundation of self-development. Character formation requires the development of traits such as purity, perseverance, faith, sincerity, obedience, fortitude, veneration, humanistic tendency etc. Education is a process of developing one's personality and not just gaining certificates and skills.

     Education is a process by which character is formed, the strength of mind is increased, intellect is expanded and one learns to stand on one's feet. The aim of education has been determined by the philosophical, social, economic, political and cultural norms of the society. Education must be capable of stabilizing social order, conserving culture in the society and acting as an instrument of social reconstruction. Education should not only preserve the social heritage but also be able to enrich it. Education being a multipurpose process not only inculcates social, economic and cultural awareness in humanity but is also an important medium for grasping and promoting life enhancing values among human beings.

     Education can decide the fate and future of our society or country. It equips the youth of the nation with a rational and pragmatic approach to life. It helps the society to value life and work for the betterment. Unless proper education is provided, it will be panic and chaos for the youth in the country. It is the education which makes the system value based and adheres to the accepted norms of the society. The purpose of education is self-affirmation and not self-negation. Value education alone can provide real meaning and content to life and enhances the cultural factor within the human being. Moral values lies in the educational philosophy of great visionaries like Swami Dayanand, Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr S. Radha Krishnan, Dr A.P.J. Abdul ISSN: 2249-2496 Impact Factor: 7.081 105 International Journal of Research in Social Sciences http://www.ijmra.us, Email: editorijmie@gmail.com Kalam who with their intuitive powers could prefer that education without moral values would lead to chaos, restlessness, mental as well as social disorders.

 II. NEED OF VALUE EDUCATION

     There are various aspects to our civilization like population explosion, rapid technology advancement, knowledge expansion, industrialization, globalization, mobilization, influence of various cultures on own culture etc. Society has become dynamic due to this modernization process. It is posing multiple problems of anxiety, stress, and worries in front of human life. Core human values like honesty, sincerity, morality, humanity, and non-violence are getting affected due to the evils of poverty, unsocialibility, caste system, gender inequality, ill treatment of child women and old people, and overutilization of natural resources without planning.

     To address these problems one must look at morals/ value education as an integral part of the education system as a whole. In the materialistic era of science and technology, everything except morality has reached its peak. Higher education in the present era is stimulated by economic consideration without any reference to age-old human values that separate man from animals. The aim of moral values inculcation has remained most neglected one. 

    The neglect has been abundantly visible now in the present dismal picture of society, rampant with corruption, malpractices, flouting of rules, polluted minds, restlessness, lack of peace, frustration, mental depression, violence and crime, and lack of mutual faith and trust among people by and large. Undue importance to achievement in terms of marks, remarks, awards, honors, degrees, judgments passed for others in one cause of depleting moral values.

     Without value inculcation, extracurricular activity is only viewed as an activity to win the competitions. Era of globalization has taught to become more and more selfish. Education without value is not only useless but also very harmful. The realization is particularly relevant at the present juncture of history when social, moral, cultural and spiritual values are disintegrating when the horizon of knowledge has been immensely widened and the media and the incident of scams, and scandals threaten to disrupt the value system and destabilize cultural base.

     The bookish knowledge is not helping the youth to achieve the goal of life. What the world badly needs today is a moral and spiritual revolution. Social interactions have reduced drastically. People have less tolerance, depressing mentalities and a bloated ego. Materialism has put all the Indian traditions and values in the dump yard. Everyone is running for well-defined and cash convertible goals. Nationalism, family, society and morality no longer matter for him.

    The youth of today are caught in the vicious circle of crime and violence. They have lost their moral values to the new era of commercialism and modernization world. This is a great concern for India. Inculcation of moral values through personality development is the necessity of hour to check the disintegration of social relations. Moral values are needed for developing quantities such as humility, truthfulness, honesty, courtesy, tolerance, sacrifice etc among the youth. It will help in developing positive social attitude in a new generation which prompts them to raise their voice against social evils. Moral values will inculcate sense of cooperation and fellow feeling among people.

 III ROLE OF PARENTS

     Parents are vital in the moral development of their wards because they are the first teacher and role models. The moral education of students starts in a house with parents. Parents try to talk to their wards and tell them what is good and what is bad behaviour by giving various examples. Changing socio-economic situation keep the parents busy with their progression and personal issues and they leave the whole thing to schooling system. One of the best ways to checks young minds to all kinds of low, obscene and negative thoughts and they become a prey to many wrong things at early age, is that the parents and elders should spend quality time with their children and also make them aware of the life building ideas of great personalities. No teaching can go on effectively without the support of parents. A teacher should discuss with parents the various aspects of the progress of their wards and make practical suggestions that would help the students.

 IV ROLE OF TEACHERS 

    Teachers through a positive approach need to make the youth of India realize that they are the future of India. Teachers need to teach how a lack of humanism and less consideration for society and colleagues due to lust for money and only enjoying the pleasure of materialistic life would dangerous for India’s development. Teaching moral values in personality development classes can promote individual and social welfare, love, peace, goodwill and understanding. The role of the teachers in institutions of higher education in inculcating values among students becomes important, as education is a forceful tool for the civilization of social and moral values. The teachers have to reflect on the value of honesty, integrity, compassion and justice in their own behaviour.\

     The teacher should possess core values like honesty, transparency, sincerity,  and compassion and position positive thinking. A teacher should try to create awareness about rights and responsibilities of being a good citizen. It is the teacher’s personality that makes the deepest impression on a student. A teacher should never humiliate the student but encourage the young ones by making positive comments, constructive criticism and appreciation. 

    A teacher should learn the art of shaping students' character. He should help him to develop moral values, good habits and thinking skills. Students interact with his teacher in institution and understand the values like friendship, brotherhood, nonviolence, peace etc. Moral education cannot be given by book only. One needs an example in order to develop faith in moral principles. Teachers are the role models for the renewal and improvement of moral behaviour. A teacher should appreciate the importance of understanding the factors and contexts which are influencing the behaviour, choices, lifestyles, health and welfare of students and their families. 

    A teacher should help students to acquire and practise specific skills that support positive values. He should implement appropriate evaluation strategies to monitor progress made by students towards acquiring positive values. Students often idealize their teachers watch them closely and also try to emulate their behavior. Students may view their teachers as authorities on subjects and their advice on many issues related to character and values. Teachers are responsible for teaching honesty, dedication and right behaviour. 

V ROLE OF INSTITUTION 

    In ancient times, education was imparted in institutions as Gurukul where education was given with much emphasis on moral education. Our present education has undoubtly widened and several new fields of education and technology have emerged but nothing serious is being done in modern educational institutions to teach morality. Therefore, in institution moral education should be taught as a part of their educational curriculum. The institution should promote co-curricular activities like painting, music, fine arts, elocution, recitation etc to develop the human quality of love. The programme of NCC and add-on courses on value education as an integral part of the curriculum will promote discipline leadership, self-reliance, self-control and integrity. Social values may be inculcated through the programmes of NSS and other activities related to the life and teachings of dignified personalities. Physical activities like games, sports and yoga will provide physical fitness, and a healthy body, mind and spirit.

     Participation in cultural activities will make the student aware of rich culture and heritage. All these practices are there in higher education institutes but the need is to integrate them in such a way that they are given equal importance and rating among academics and other intellectual activities. With the rapid technological, economic and cultural change, institutions will have to develop a variety of means to morally stimulate students and make them committed to moral action. The institution is responsible for maintaining a clean, beautiful and peaceful environment on the campus. Institutions must provide clean and safe drinking water and restrict social evils such as smoking, drinking, gambling and ragging on the campus. The role of an institution is to provide an environment that supports and reinforces the adoption of positive values. 

VI CONCLUSION 

    We urgently feel the need for value education in higher education institutes. To save the whole education system as well as humans we need to address more and more fundamental issues of the social and moral consequences of the unregulated activities in higher education institutes. The parents, teachers and the institutions have a definite and inevitable role to play in providing moral education in a multicultural society. To make our country an incredible India, we ought to influence our younger generations' mindset the best we could and make them understand the importance of moral values to build good character. If only we inculcate the moral value, which could be achieved only through education. We can glorify youth of today as the best citizen

THE FOOLISH DONKEY

                                                                THE FOOLISH DONKEY

     In the olden days, merchants used to travel from village to village or town to town. For this, they used to rely on donkeys or bullock carts to transport their merchandise. In this story about the Foolish Donkey, you will see a salt merchant. He uses a foolish donkey as his vehicle to transport his salt bags. Let us move on to know what the story of this foolish donkey is about. At the end of the story, you will realize why the donkey is called a foolish donkey.

The donkey was lazy. That donkey has always hated the same routine and boring work. It used to think that the merchant is making use of him but never gifted him nor appreciated him. But it was not right. The merchant always cared for it.

    One day, both the merchant and the donkey were set on their routine travel. They were walking to the neighbouring village to sell the salt. The donkey has bags of salt on its back. It thought, “Hmm..another day began!” Both of them were slowly walking. 

Then they came across a small river that has a very narrow bridge. The merchant was taking the donkey carefully. 

River

    However, the donkey slipped into the river and all the bags of salt were wet by the river water. The merchant grabbed the donkey out of the river swiftly. But because of coming in contact with water, all the salt gets dissolved. Thus, the bags on the back of the donkey were emptied.

    When it raised again, the donkey found that the bags were as light as air! It could not understand what just happened.  On giving a little thought, it understood that it was water that made the bag light. It jumped with joy silently. However, the merchant was sad as he lost all his salt. He, along with the donkey, then returned home with disappointment.

    The next day, again the merchant and the donkey set out for selling the salt. They were travelling to the same village as they were yesterday, again. Thus, they came across the bridge today also. The donkey got a bright idea. It wanted to get rid of the burden on its back. So, it pretended to be giddy and fell into the river. The merchant was surprised. 

    Immediately he pulled the donkey out of the river. Today also he lost all the salt due to the donkey falling into the water. With nothing else to do, he returned home. That night, he discussed the issue with his wife. They both thought about it and came to an understanding that the donkey must have been doing this wanted. They wanted to teach him a lesson.

The next day, the merchant loaded the donkey with bags of cotton! As soon as the bags were tied to its back, the donkey felt them very light. I thought, “Wow, what a surprise! The bags are light even without me falling into the water. Now imagine if I fall into the water, they might just vanish!”

Thinking so, it walked along with the merchant happily. Soon they reached the bridge again. Without wasting any time, the donkey fell into the river purposely. The merchant pulled it carefully up the bridge. But guess what! The bags on the donkey’s back are weighing like never before! The donkey was astonished. It could not understand why the bags on his back were weighing like a mountain. 

Foolish Donkey

It had nothing to do but shut its mouth, bear the weight and walk silently along with the merchant.

With this incident, the foolish donkey got its lesson. It never did such foolish acts once again and listened to its master with care.

Moral of the foolish donkey story

    The foolish donkey story shows funnily how one’s laziness can create pain. The donkey was too lazy to do the work assigned to it. It had no other problems. But it imagined that the merchant did not like him and created a misconception that his work is boring and wanted to escape it. This notion is wrong. Every one of us has a certain way of working. Without work, nothing comes for free. One should understand this clearly. The donkey failed to understand this and failed miserably. Finally, it proved itself to be a foolish donkey.

    So, children from this foolish donkey story, you should remember not to be lazy. Do your work though it may be routine. Take the advice of your parents and teachers on how to do the work creatively and what else you can learn from the work. But you should never skip your duties. It will cause a loss to your growth only.

    We hope you enjoyed this foolish donkey story. Explore our other range of moral stories for children in English. Share them with your friends and have a great time in storytelling with them!!

GEMS OF OUR MORAL LIVES

                                                       GEMS OF OUR MORAL LIVES 

Today a new house officer joined our ward for newborn babies. Whenever that happens, I try to give some guidance to them on how to make the most out of their stay in our ward.  Generally, I give them like five pieces of advice, that may be of use in many other situations (also in non-medical settings👦).

 

1. If you tried and failed and then try again and fail again, it may be a good idea to get some help.

      Especially when we are taking blood from babies, which is not easy, it is so important not to keep trying all by ourselves. This is especially true for inexperienced docs but for even those with experience, it may be a good idea to call someone senior or just a different doc who can help with the procedure.  

 

 

2. Gain a bit of knowledge every day through reading. 

'Many of our house officers serve as new doctors and do not learn a lot of new things. It is quite essential, I think, that in that early phase of their career, they keep studying. If they study one hour per day, that is ninety hours in three months. Compare a new doctor who studied 90 extra hours about childhood diseases versus one who did not do that.'

 

3. Learn how to praise instead of criticising.

            'Many times, when small children are approached (this piece of advice is more for the children in the general ward), we tend to hear the docs say: " you are afraid" or "you are shy". That may be true, but starting by criticizing a child, is not the best start to an encounter in which you will need their cooperation during a physical examination. Children like to be praised. Simple words like "wow", "handsome", "beautiful", or "you can do this" can make a big difference. The child feels at ease and the mother will feel good about the doctor, which is essential for a child to be cooperative during a physical examination.'

4. Reflect every day on what your experiences have taught you. 

   'As a doctor, we get daily very special experiences. We witness sad events and happy events of healing. These experiences are so valuable for our personal growth, but only if we take some time to reflect on them. Daily or at least weekly reflection about what was good, and what was tough, can help a major in the personal growth of every doc. (Growth, not in height or width, but in character, personality, emotional, spiritual, ...)'

5 Choose a happy mood in the morning 

'This is maybe the most important piece of advice. If we choose a good mood in the morning, we will notify us all the lovely and pleasant things happening in a paediatric ward. If we choose a bad mood, our attention will fall on all the frustrating and negative events. In a good mood, we will see a lot of opportunities to help, in a bad mood, we may experience these opportunities as mere problems.' 

MORAL STORY - THE GRASSHOPPER AND ANT

 MORAL STORY - THE GRASSHOPPER AND ANT

The Grasshopper and the Ant Story

It was a beautiful spring day, and a grasshopper was playing in a green grassy field. In that field he noticed a line of ants marching along carrying some grains of wheat. The grasshopper asked, “ Where are you going with that big load?”.

“We are taking these grains to our nest,” said the Ant. “But it's such a beautiful day, come and have fun with me,” said the grasshopper. 

English Short Story for Children

“No, I think you should come work with us it's going to be a long winter with lots of snow. You had better start storing your food now” replied the ant.

“Why worry about the winter? It's only spring, and there are lots of food everywhere,” said the grasshopper. The grasshopper did not listen to an ant. All through the spring, the grasshopper did nothing except eat, sleep and play. He became quite fat.

Then the summer came. Ants were busy collecting food for winter, but the grasshopper did nothing but eat, sleep and play. He became even fatter!.

Moral Short Stories for kids

Later Autumn came. Ant advised the grasshopper to collect food for winter but he didn't listen. “Winter is not here yet, and when it comes, I am sure I will be able to find some food”. 

A few weeks later, winter came, and the snow began to fall. Just as the ants said, the snow was very deep. 

Ants were all snug(warm and comfortable)in their nest with lots of good food to eat. 

The grasshopper, however, had trouble finding food. He was very hungry and miserably cold all winter. By the time winter had ended. 

The grasshopper had learned a valuable lesson. Next spring onward, the grasshopper went out to gather food with the ant.

                                                                   MORAL OF THE STORY

                                               'Work today and you can reap benefits tomorrow'