Loving Truth and Peace--7

Core Values-Messages

The Astronomers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkDl2YzTH4

Strap lines, dedications, images, songs, art, even epitaphs (as in the musical piece above). There are so many ways to succinctly convey want we hold dear—things which summarize our life philosophy and highest values to be shared with others and perhaps if we could, the world. Loving truth and peace (LTP), the subject of the last 35+ entries, is an example.

  

More Examples

A related value-message for us, is from our skype address/profile. The word "love" is the imperative form of the verb.

Love: truth, peace, and people.

Here is one from my youth. It is what we would put at the top of our school work at St. Leo’s Catholic Primary School in San Jose, California. (photo is me—Kelly--from about age 7). It was properly punctuated and always underlined. It stood for “Jesus Mary, and Joseph.” Our school work was dedicated to all three of them.

J.M.J.

Here is one from Ignatius Loyola (16^th century) and used by the Society of Jesus that he founded (Jesuits).  We like it so much that we included it as the dedication in our edited book Global Member Care (Volume 2): Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity.  “For the greater glory of God” or abbreviated to “AMDG.”

Ad majorem Dei gloriam

A similar one was used by Bach and  Handel (17^th -18^th centuries) as they would sign their musical pieces—sometimes abbreviated simply as as “SDG.”

Soli Deo gloria

Here is another one that we like, from Dr. Anthony Marsella, a colleague who among other affiliations is part of Psychologists for Social Responsibility. Tony  includes this piece as part of his email signature line. “Show, by your actions, that you choose peace over war, freedom over oppression, voice over silence, service over self-interest, respect over advantage, courage over fear, cooperation over competition, action over passivity, diversity over uniformity, and justice over all.”

 
And finally here is an epitaph from two astronomers who were husband and wife, Brian and Susan Campbell (1862-1909, 1863-1910, respectively) found in Allegheny, PA USA. There is also a short musical piece whose lyrics are the words on their gravestone (we included it in our wedding ceremony). Have a listen--it is the opening video above.

We have loved the stars too deeply

to be afraid of the night.

 *****

What would your core value-message be? Another way to think about it is what would be the subtitle or cover image for your autobiography? Or a song to play at a special event in your honor?