Since we live in a society of individuals, we discover at an early age the need to judge the choices and actions of others with in respect to our own values and goals. The reason is that individuals we deal with can have a significant impact on our lives for better or worse; the stranger on the street may be a potential friend or a con artist. But not all the values we use to judge are equal. For example, the value of typing and appearance may be important to an employer’s judgment of applicants for a secretary position, but the moral values of honesty and responsibility carry more weight.

This is due to the nature of moral values. In the world we face innumerable alternative courses of action and the need to make countless choices. It is the task of morality to provide us with a standard and code of values to guide and evaluate the choices and actions we make over the span of our lives. It provides the general guideline and values to judge the choices of ourselves and other people. The moral values it identifies reflect the nature of fundamental approaches an individual may take in their lives and, therefore, are more vital in determining the character of another person.

Let us continue with the moral values of honesty and responsibility. Imagine a co-worker who speaks with you on occasion and indicates a desire to spend time together apart from work as a friend. But during your daily observations, you witness him offering dubious excuses for showing up late both for work and from breaks, claiming to have lost work he later confides he did not do, and joking about the number of times he faked illness to avoid work. Further, he continuously fails to complete his work on time, leaving other workers to pull his weigh while we goofs off. In sum, you observe his dishonesty and irresponsibility.

If honesty and responsibility are high moral values, then your co-worker’s actions will be met with your disapproval because it runs contrary to how you believe a person should act. In response to the sight of his behavior, you would feel negative emotions like annoyance, irritation, disgust, or anger. Consequently, you would be more inclined to avoid the company of this co-worker as much as your work allows and decline his invitations of friendship. For if he’s dishonest and irresponsible to his co-workers and employers, he may well be so with his friends.

Now consider the opposite: the co-worker displays impeccable honesty and responsibility in every facet of his job each day, and when he makes mistakes he owns up to them and seeks their correction. Invariably, we would hold a higher view of him than before. To deal with a person we dislike can be emotionally draining, but to deal with an individual who reflects our moral values can be revitalizing; we think and feel approval, relief, and good will in the company of such a person. Rather than seek to avoid him, we may encourage discussion; even friendship.

The moral values we hold affect our overall responses to the behavior of other individuals and the type of relationship we are willing to have with them or whether we choose to have one at all. Just as our value of honesty and responsibility would have us steer clear of the dishonest co-worker, it would encourage us to seek out the one who is honest. The moral qualities of a person reflect their character and approach to life far more than, for instance, gender or appearance. When the need to judge a person is apparent, it is our personal moral values that are our fundamental guides in deciding whether an individual will impede our lives and happiness or increase and enhance it.