1 00:00:00,420 --> 00:00:04,520 I'm going to talk to you about the most important thing you will ever have. 2 00:00:04,520 --> 00:00:07,140 Now try to guess what that might be. 3 00:00:07,150 --> 00:00:12,070 For example, is it money? Well it's certainly better to have money than not to, 4 00:00:12,070 --> 00:00:17,600 but it's definitely not the most important thing you can have -- just ask all the rich people who 5 00:00:17,610 --> 00:00:23,150 are very unhappy -- or, even better, read about most of the people who have won tens 6 00:00:23,150 --> 00:00:31,359 of millions of dollars in a lottery. Most of these people actually became less happy, not more. 7 00:00:31,359 --> 00:00:37,379 So alright, then, what about love -- is that the most important thing you could ever have? 8 00:00:37,380 --> 00:00:42,860 Well, love sure is important. I can't imagine living without it. I treasure the love of my friends 9 00:00:42,860 --> 00:00:48,120 and the love of my family, but if you don't have the thing I'm about to tell you, 10 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,120 you won't receive much love at all. 11 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:58,220 So, let's try a third answer: happiness. Well, that, too, is very, very important. 12 00:00:58,220 --> 00:01:03,800 Who wants to be unhappy? But again, without the thing I will tell you about, 13 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,200 there would be little happiness in the world. 14 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:14,260 So, here goes -- the most important thing you will ever have is -- drumroll please -- 15 00:01:14,260 --> 00:01:21,240 good values. Yes, good values. Now I know that may sound boring and I realize that it's possible 16 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,580 that you may have never really thought about values or even know what I'm talking about. 17 00:01:25,580 --> 00:01:33,460 So, let me explain. A value is something you think is more important than anything else -- 18 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:40,200 more important than money, more important even than love, and even more important than happiness. 19 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,620 And above all, values are what you consider to be more important 20 00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:48,760 than your feelings. 21 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,899 This is very hard for a lot of people to believe because we live in a time when people think 22 00:01:52,899 --> 00:01:59,119 that how they feel about something is more important than anything else, but that isn't so. 23 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:06,480 Here's a simple example of the conflict between a feeling and a value. Just about everyone 24 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:11,620 feels like eating junk food, but there's a big problem here. If you eat whatever you 25 00:02:11,620 --> 00:02:18,069 feel like eating you will end up obese and unhealthy. So then, what is it that stops 26 00:02:18,069 --> 00:02:23,299 people from eating all the food they feel like eating? The answer is a value -- 27 00:02:23,299 --> 00:02:29,959 that's right, a value. And what is that value? Not getting obese and staying healthy. 28 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:35,700 There is, in other words, a necessary battle that goes on inside of most people: 29 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:43,160 the battle between what they feel -- in this case the desire to eat junk food -- and a value that they hold -- 30 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:49,280 in this case staying healthy and looking good. Now as important as a healthy body is, 31 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:56,379 this conflict between what we feel like doing and values, is even more important when it 32 00:02:56,379 --> 00:03:01,759 comes to doing what is right, when it comes to how we treat other people, not just ourselves. 33 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:07,980 Here's one that will make you think. Imagine you're walking on a beach with the dog you love, 34 00:03:07,980 --> 00:03:13,120 when all of a sudden you look out at the water and you see your dog drowning. 35 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:17,340 And imagine, too, that at the same time about 100 feet from your dog, 36 00:03:17,340 --> 00:03:21,880 a person you don't know -- a stranger -- is also drowning. 37 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,560 Now, which would you try to save first? 38 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:30,500 Just about anyone who loves their pet would feel like saving their pet first. 39 00:03:30,500 --> 00:03:36,760 But what if you value human life even more than an animal's life -- and you probably do. 40 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:44,000 After all, you probably eat animals, but you wouldn't eat a human being. Then your value -- 41 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:52,860 the unique preciousness of human life -- is in conflict with your feelings for your dog. 42 00:03:52,860 --> 00:03:57,560 Here's another example. Imagine you are about to take an important test at school. 43 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:03,940 If you cheat on that test, you may be able to avoid failing and maybe even get into a great school. 44 00:04:03,940 --> 00:04:09,820 But what if you have a value -- what we call a moral value -- that cheating is wrong? 45 00:04:09,820 --> 00:04:15,740 You sure feel like cheating, but if you have moral values, you know it's wrong to. 46 00:04:15,740 --> 00:04:20,720 Again, that battle between your feelings and a value. 47 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,740 Almost everything that is wrong with the world comes from people either not having higher moral values, 48 00:04:26,740 --> 00:04:31,400 or not living by them, because they feel they want to do something else. 49 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,520 People who murder feel like murdering, and they do what they feel 50 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,000 rather than live by the value of preserving human life. 51 00:04:39,010 --> 00:04:42,520 People who steal feel that they want the thing that they steal, 52 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:48,400 so they take what they feel like having rather than live by the value of not stealing. 53 00:04:48,410 --> 00:04:53,910 The list is pretty much endless, and that's why good values are the most important thing 54 00:04:53,910 --> 00:05:00,720 any of us can ever have. Without them, the world would be a very terrible place. 55 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:09,220 And finally, know this: the best people you know -- meaning the nicest, kindest, and most honest -- 56 00:05:09,220 --> 00:05:14,320 are people who battle their feelings every day of their lives. 57 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,040 So should you. 58 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,000 I'm Dennis Prager.