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TRADITIONAL CODE OF ETHICS (Author anonymous) 1. Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone). 2. Have Respect…. Respect means "to feel or show honor or esteem for someone of something, to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with the deference or courtesy." Showing respect is a basic law of life.(a) Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times (b) Special respect should be given to elders, parents, teachers and the Community Leaders. (c) No person should be made to feel "put down" by you; avoid hurt- ing others heartsas you would avoid a deadly poison. (d) Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without their permission or an understanding between you. (e) Never intrude on any person’s quiet moment or personal space (f) Never walk between people that are conversing. (g) Never interrupt people who are conversing (h) Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due. (I) Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders are present, (except to ask what is expected of you (should you be in doubt). (j) Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not (k) Treat the earth and all of her aspects as your mother. Show a deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world and the animal world. Do nothing to pollute our Mother. Rise up with all who would defend Her. (l) Show a deep respect and tolerance for the beliefs and religion of others. (m) Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your ears and your heart (n) Respect the wisdom of People in Council. Once you give an idea to a council meeting, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to all the people. Respect demands .... that you listen intently to the ideas of others in Council and that you do not insist ......that your ideas prevail. Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are good and true, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth. 3. Once Council has decided something in unity, respect demands that no one speak against what has been decided If the council has made an error, the error will become apparent to everyone in its own time. 4. Be truthful at all times, and under all conditions. 5. Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give the best of your food, your blankets, the best part of your home, and your best service to your guests. 6. The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honor of one is the honor of all. To dishonor another is to dishonor yourself. 7. Receive strangers and others with a loving heart and as members of the human family. 8. All races and all tribes in the world are like different colored flowers in one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator, they must all be respected. 9. To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget the most important tasks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others. 10. Observe moderation and balance in all things 11. Know those things that lead to your wellbeing, and those things that lead to your destruction. 12. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms, in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, in meditation and the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.
(anonymous)
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