Values Congruence

I heard the most amazing story last week. A student that I have worked with was down at the beach. (That really narrows down who it could be, right? Haha!) She was walking with her friends and she saw a woman who was by herself and struggling. She'd had too much to drink, didn't know her address and had been separated from her friends. The woman was face down on the sidewalk - and about 10 people had just walked by or walked around her. This student stopped and helped. Even when her friends moved on, she stayed. Even when she had to call 911, she waited. Why? Because it was the right thing to do.

This life is a test. What do we believe in? Are we willing to act? Are we willing to not be bystanders? All of the work, time, resources that have been put into See Action, Take Action/The Dan Plan are dedicated this this exact line of thought. How do we not sit by and just watch things that we should address? This is a life-long challenge. The need to intervene does not go away after your four years at USD.

Over the course of the next few weeks, our students will be making some decisions about the programming direction and future of our community. We will be grappling with the real question of, "How do we get others to engage in personal responsibility?" We have some work to do... But, we also have some successes we can measure. In the evaluation of SATA, we asked the question, "Why is values congruence important?" Please review these answers for some really insightful comments. Well, and some simply ridiculous ones, too! (You're welcome!)

Why is values congruence important?

• "If we do not know what we believe in, then we cannot act accordingly. Our values determine the actions we will make. They help us know how we want to be seen by the public and our peers."
• "Values congruences relates to leadership, the type of person you are, and how others see you. It is important for your values and actions to be congruent in order to be authentic and lead by example."
• "IDK what this is. sorry. We all need the same values to uphold the same level of standards?"
• "It unites us all and it makes everything we say carry so much more weight."
• "You live by what you think is important, therefore not only thinking good, but also doing good."

We keep fighting the good fight because of people like one in my opening story. Sometimes, it does make a difference.