Individualism and values

Many centuries on end before life a particular person meant nothing for all kinds of regimes. Only with the emergence of democracy, people began to value each person, regardless of language, belief, color of skin and social status. However, as for social status, this claim is the most questionable is the weakest point of democracy. Today people are not equal even in advanced society. This fact contradicts the very essence of democracy and makes democratic ideas vulnerable and exposed to criticism. Democracy is mostly criticized for its hypocrisy. However one of the unquestionable achievements of democracy is humanism, which places the man in the center of all priorities. This is a reaction to despotism and authoritarianism and all other types of political regimes, when life of ordinary citizen meant nothing for the elite. Due to democracy, life and rights of each person are the main values of our time. This fact gives us a great number of different opportunities. If you are a clever and talented person, you can be a success. If you are an ordinary and mediocre person, you also have rights and freedoms. Thus, we may say that our time is the most favorable for living and self-actualization. However, there are a lot of people, who argue that there are values, which are much more important, for example, state interests. They think that human life is worth being sacrificed for the sake of common prosperity. I think that this idea is wrong.

Values

All people have their values. Even those, who are immoral, have their immoral values. Values depend on many breeding mostly. They are also formed under the influence of personal experience and events. Values always represent collective experience. They are passed on from previous generation to the next one and then are corrected by this very next generation. There are overall values of the whole society and personal values of single citizens. The topic of values and moral principles is very urgent today. At present we observe decline in all values. Our time is marked by evolution of values and their total transformation. Thus generation gap becomes more and more vividly seen nowadays. In past times the problem of generation gap existed too. However, it was not so vivid and topical. The differences in life approaches were minor. Despite this fact, there were arguments between representatives of two generations. Nowadays, it turns out that parents and children can’t understand each other at all. They have absolutely different values. Besides, no one wants to find compromise and reach mutual understanding. Egoism and egocentric tendencies are characteristic features of both younger and older generations at present. This fact aggravates the problem of values and generation gap between two generations, between parents and their children, to say nothing about grandmothers and grandfathers. Our grandmothers and grandfathers are unable to understand everything which happens today. Everything changes today much faster than in previous times. That is why our grandparents still remain in the past and can’t influence the situation at all. Besides, grandchildren demonstrate total disrespect form elderly people in general and their grandmothers and grandfathers in particular. Sad times!!!