Why values matter | Jan Stassen | TEDxMünchen

Wow thank you very much we have listened to a few talks already and a notes late but it was great so far I think one thing that all connected all the talks is something that has something to do with values something that we sometimes tend to oversee and we can find these carriers of meaning everywhere in politics there on election posters right companies write them on walls there are red threats to conferences like this here and we as individuals use them as guidance when they are big decision in our lives whereas Gold's plans and fears focus on the outcome values worry about the way we do things they have a moral implication they define how we want to continue to live so to put it in very simple terms values are situation independent decision helpers so no matter what context I mean I'm trying to stick to my own values right but when I started looking into the notion of values and the concepts behind it I was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of abstract theories of modules and all these things so when you type in personal values into Google you can find over 900 million search results so I started looking into values through things I experienced myself for me the beauty of fellows is that they are much more than intellectual concepts I started writing them down as personal story and one is about this internal ticket and the value of friendship when I was 19 I started traveling I wanted to see the diversity of Europe I was done with my civilian service and a friend and I we bought tickets and train we shared chocolate with Spanish nuns we discussed life where the Brazilian pilgrim and we had amazing conversations along the way what I learned was that friends are the perfect mirror you need sometimes they're stressed sometimes they're friendly and sometimes they even critical but they help you to be and to become and stay the best possible self and stories about respect and joy of life followed afterwards and if I would ask you to think about a personal story connected to a value I'm sure everybody in the room would think about a different one try for example respects not why it's important in society but as personal memory maybe one of you would share a story about a friend teaching you self-respect maybe one of you would share a story about a Ganesh that your sister gave you as a gift before moving to India and maybe one of you would share a story about a marmalade glass that your grandmother gave you as a gift and these examples are real stories from real people and I think the problem is that we face that they're badly told there's no space sharing these stories so together with friends I decided I collect these stories and I created the Museum of male values and we ask people to send us their stories connected to objects the objects are witnesses and relics that remind us and what's important because some some of our objects that we have they're so deeply ingrained in our daily lives that we tend to over see what memory are in there on what life lessons are connected to it like a cassette we used to listen to or shells we found at the beach we love or old sneakers that we used to travel with but some people know right away what their story is and what object they want to share like this Pearl Earring a young woman shared with us describing the relationship to her father that was one of the first objects we got and it's about the loss of respect and I would like to share that with you my dad is my hero no one I know and bought his loyalty morale and honesty more than he does all my life I've been trying to live up to his standards and make him proud after my parents broke up he still acted in the most mature and respectful way he eventually married his teenage love my father my new stepmother and I got along very well everything seemed to work out just like a fairy tale unfortunately there is no fairy tale in life one day I visited my parents home and I found a pearl earring on the bathroom floor my stepmother does not wear pearls coincidence perhaps I confronted my father and the lack of respect and carelessness towards his wife made my heroic image of him disappear at the Museum of valleys we try to create a real space with real stories from real people like you and me we want to make valleys accessible and tangible want to offer new perspectives and not dogmatic definitions a space where there is no right and wrong our hope is that we spark curiosity and create a space where people feel safe in to open up to explore there were values and reflect on them and interact with others the objects and the stories are just catalysts a starting point to make you think when you come into our exhibitions we asked you to open your mind and let the stress of your daily lives behind the second step is offering new perspectives is exploring new perspectives we invite you to read all the 50 stories connected to different values and have a look at the objects the third and last step is after diving into all these unique and diverse experiences and stories we ask you we encourage you to reflect on your own values and share them with others when we started no traditional gallery thought this would work in any way nobody would have the patience to read that many stories nobody would be interested in normal people's objects nobody would care enough all right we all would care enough about each other's values and stories and after our first exhibition we found out in the most beautiful way that we do care people stay way longer than we expected they share their stories now we have over 200 stories and objects connected to it and most importantly people open up in our exhibitions to reflect on their own values like this little note somebody gave us so for us the Museum of villas became way more than a study exhibition we started working with schools with organizations and with other initiatives and for me personally it helped me to grow as a person I started reflecting on my own Veloz it challenged myself and pushed me so I would like to encourage you to think about values in a different way values are the social glue that hold us together with all our beautiful differences if you let your friends your family and most important your partner know why a certain value is important to you and share that through stories and not through abstract definitions you get the chance to make connections on an entirely different level and especially in times where there's mistrust and fear the mistrust and fear sometimes stronger than love faith and hope we encourage you to share or to genuinely share your stories and sincerely listening to others to tear down at least a few walls between us so whenever you have a minute to pause your busy lives I would love to encourage you to think about your own values and write them down in personal stories don't overthink they might change over time but it's a start and most importantly share them with people you love thank you very much [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 51,437

Rating: 4.852427 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Culture, Philosophy, Social Entrepreneurship, Value

Id: _a1Fc6nwpks

Length: 9min 41sec (581 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 17 2019