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You may associate 4-H with building strong character. In Alabama we have had a very successful program called Leading With Character. This program introduces character education in a variety of settings, from
demonstrating character when riding on the school bus all the way through showing character through Alabama 4-H Animal Science Projects.
Leading With Character is based on the noted Character Counts program developed by the Josephson Institute. Even for adults, Leading With Character is something in which we may all need an occasional refresher course.
Over the next few months I’d like to introduce you to Character Counts’ Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect,
Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. You may find that these present a good topic for discussion with your own family, or perhaps they may even allow you a fresh perspective on the strength of your personal character.
TRUSTWORTHINESS
Be honest; Do not deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable — Do what you say you will do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Build a good reputation; Be loyal — Stand by your family, friends and country.
Have you ever thought about how Alabama’s 4-H livestock projects are a great indicator of how trustworthy you are? Take a moment and answer some questions:
1. Do you feed and water your animal or animals every day?
2. If you have to be gone on an overnight camping trip, do you make arrangements with someone to take care of your animal for you?
3. Do you have your 4-H animals recorded by the ownership deadline and have all the appropriate forms completed and turned in on time?
4. Do you read entry forms carefully and abide by the rules that you sign?
5. Do you read the labels on the medications you give your animals and follow the correct withdrawal times for those medications?
6. Do you use only approved medications on your animals?
If you answered yes to all of these questions, you are doing a great job of practicing the Character Pillar of Trustworthiness. Trustworthiness means being honest, loyal, and keeping promises.
When you faithfully feed and water, as well as groom and train your animals every day, you are being loyal and keeping a promise to yourself to do the best possible job you can with your 4-H project. When you begin a 4-H animal project, you accept an important responsibility for taking the best possible care of those animals every day. You are also keeping a promise to your parents or guardians, your neighbors, and other people who help get you started with your project. When someone helped you purchase your animal, they put their trust in you to take care of it. When you are loyal and keep promises, people will say you are trustworthy!
When you have raised your own animals or purchased them by the deadlines and turned in the forms according to 4-H rules and regulations, you are being honest and fair. You expect everyone else who has a 4-H animal to follow the rules and to take care of their animals for the same amount of time and with the same dedication that you do. So, if everyone follows the same rules and time schedules, the whole project and resulting shows are honest and fair to everyone.
The last two questions deal with being honest and keeping promises to a much larger group of people: every person who consumes food.
Consumers have a right to know that their food is safe and free from drug residues. When you use only approved drugs and medications, according to the label, and follow the withdrawal times on all medications, you are keeping a promise to consumers that their food will be safe and free of any drug residues.
While you are not the only person responsible for assuring the safety of the food supply, you are a very important part. If every livestock producer follows these principles, consumers will be confident of the safety of their food. So when you follow withdrawal times and use only approved drugs, you are being honest and keeping a promise to consumers.
Now some questions for you to think about:
• What happens if you don’t feed and water your animal every day like you are supposed to?
• What happens when you take advantage of other people’s help and let them feed and water your animals for a longer time than you really need help?
• What happens if you don’t own your animals by the entry deadline? Why?
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What
happens if you don’t read the labels or follow the withdrawal times on
a medication |
