Without values life would be very difficult because values are what drive us in life. They are the reason we do the things we do. Values can be specific to a person, a small group of people or a community. In communities it is important that people share the same values so the community continues to prosper. I'm from Canton, NY; a little town in upstate New York. The community where I am from is pretty close knit. Empathy and compassion are the two most important values that are shared by the majority of people. Since the majority of people share the same values everything in the community flows fairly well. However, there are values that aren't ones people aspire to have. These negative values are important though. Without the negative values we would not be able to identify the positive ones. Two negative values that are evident in my community are selfishness and power seeking.
Compassion and empathy are two values that I feel everyone should have, however, not everyone does. It is important to show compassion and empathy towards other. It says a lot about a person when they go out of their way to show kindness to someone or help someone who can, in turn, do nothing for them. In small towns like mine it means a lot when you are able to count on those around you. You know when you're going through a hard time that there will always be people for you to fall back on. That is part of what drives my community: people being able to put their own needs aside for a little and helping out those in need. For example a thirteen year-old boy in my town has had cancer for the past five years. Every year at Halloween the community hosts a haunted house. All of the proceeds go to his family. People do as much as they can for him and his family, whether it is making or buying him hats, donating gas money so he can get to his doctor appointments in New York City and Syracuse, or simply preparing a meal for them.
