Photojournaling: a personal code of ethics

THESE DAYS, WHEN WE TURN on the television or pick up the newspaper, it seems we are bombarded with stories of people making poor choices or, quite frankly, doing the wrong thing. Children are kidnapped. Murders are committed. Beloved public figures are unfaithful to their spouses or unfair with their investments. The list goes on and on. As life gets more complex and we become more concerned with striving to do the right thing, it helps to regularly reflect on our own core values in order to stay focused and grounded. Let's call it a personal code of ethics. The perfect place to document these values is a scrapbook. Michael Bugeja, Ph.D., director of journalism at Iowa State University and author of Living Ethics: Developing Values in Mass Communication (Allyn and Bacon), contributes regularly to National Public Radio and publications regarding ethics. According to Bugeja, having a personal code of ethics "reminds us that we have committed to an ethical life. An ethical life requires us to update our code and to evaluate it often. That makes us more mindful of doing the right thing." A scrapbook containing your code of ethics is more than a way to record your beliefs. It's somewhat of a portable problem-solving tool for your career, marriage, parenting or life in general. Similarly, it can serve as a guide for your children as they journey into adulthood. Displaying and describing your principles such as "treat everyone equally" or "telling the truth first prevents bigger lies" will help you steer clear of potential ethical breaches and set a positive example for your children and others, Bugeja says in his book. Pamela James of Ventura, California, agrees wholeheartedly. She devoted a layout to her and her husband's parental ethics (shown on page 44). Centering the theme on 1 Corinthians 13 from the Bible, Pamela and her husband defined their ethics so that their three children would "know where we were coming from as parents, what motivated us to do what we did and what might have made us different from other parents. "Children may not be miniature adults, but they have the same reactions, emotions and thinking process as adults," Pamela says. "They just lack the life experience. The Corinthians passage is the ultimate outline on how to behave as a human being-the 'do unto others' philosophy." For the rest of the article, we've applied Bugeja's ethics-building process for the media to scrapbookers. Follow the steps to document your own code of ethics. getting started Designating a special album to document your code of ethics will allow you to give each value the attention it deserves. And just in case you aren't ready to share your innermost beliefs and experiences with everyone you know, it enables you to keep that information in one album that can be stored in a private place. To begin creating your code, first think about and write down the values that mold your life such as responsibility, honesty, trust, tolerance, civility, fairness, discretion, fidelity and so on. Think about why these values are important to you and how they play out in your life. Next, define the purpose of your album by designing a title page. Do you want the album to help you through a difficult time? During stressful times, reference this album to help make

appropriate decisions. Will the album guide you as you work toward a major goal such as a promotion, finishing your degree or winning a contest? We all want to be successful, but our success should not be at the expense of others. Do you want to set a positive example for your children? Documenting your own code of ethics will inspire young people to develop their own values and give them the tools to make healthy, positive decisions in an emergency situation. Whatever the reason, a title page will help clarify the purpose of the album. An emphatic album title will also show the importance of an ethics scrapbook. Consider "My Life's Little Instruction Booklet," "Molly's Manual for Moral Living" or "Ethics 101 by the Smith Family." As you begin to think about your values and their accompanying ethics, a title that clearly says, "Here I am, and this is how I live!" will surely develop. defining your values Now that you've identified your values and determined the purpose for the album, it's time to explain why these values are important. Then you can develop the ideas into scrapbook pages. First, write down the outside forces that have helped mold your beliefs. Perhaps they are based on your religious faith, a certain person or a self-help book. Next, for each value, write about the times you made a good choice, as well as times in which you didn't. If you could relive certain situations, what would you do differently in order to stay true to a particular value? Provide examples that illustrate ethics in action. For example, Sharon Whitehead (Masters '04) wanted to teach her children about marriage-what makes and keeps it strong. The resulting scrapbook page (below) includes suggestions from her Grandma Smith plus her own thoughtful reflections. She also created a family tree of long marriages for added emphasis. As you write your code of ethics, allow your words and purpose to dictate the style of your album. If you are primarily making the album as something to reflect on yourself, use your favorite colors and materials, much as you would for an "All About Me" album. However, if you are making the album as a testimony for your children, choose fun shapes and bright colors. Once you have finished, pull out your code-of-ethics album any time you need to be reminded of how to avoid life's speed bumps or drive your success. Your conscience and your loved ones will thank you for it.