Values Curriculum

14 Attributes of Heroes of Peace

1. (Behavior) Govern yourself by never allowing another’s behavior to negatively influence your conduct. Your actions are always your responsibility; they are never another’s fault. Determine your behavior from your values, from the kind of person you want to be -- never from how others behave toward you.

2. (Change) Encourage positive change, not through criticism, but through your continuous achievements of excellence for all to witness. When criticized by others, offer continual examples of excellence as your only response.

3. (Vision) Envision things as wonderful as they can be, not as they are, and then strive to create positive change toward these envisioned goals. All great accomplishments started as a vision that others could not see.

4. (Obstacles) Realize that obstacles are not barriers to your goals, but opportunities for growth and challenges to enrich your self-confidence by mastering new skills. A person having reached a goal without overcoming obstacles has learned nothing and accomplished even less. Conquered obstacles are the only qualifying credentials of heroes and a measure of one's commitment and leadership.

5. (Self-esteem) Enhance one’s self-esteem, not from the opinions of others, but from the compassionate causes one has embraced and the perseverance and courage expended toward their resolve.

6. (Compassion) Give simply to increase the amount of goodness in the world -- often without recognition or reward. Give more to others than you receive in return, and carefully sustain this inequity as a distinctive characteristic of your leadership.

7. (Courage) Honor and respect fear, for it alone offers you an opportunity to demonstrate courage.

8. (Perseverance) Never give up. Most perceived failures are not failures at all, but instead successfully completed stepping stones toward a goal. The only time you can fail is if you quit perusing your goals.

9. (Trust) Honor all commitments and obligations to everyone. Your pledge should be as meaningful to a king as to a beggar, for the value of a commitment is determined from its source, not to whom it is directed.

10. (Conflict) While engaging your adversaries, always maintain their dignity. This is the only road to lasting peace.

11. (Character) Without regard to consequences, courageously fulfill the obligations of being human by revering all life, defending the righteous, promoting peace, inspiring compassion, protecting the environment, spreading joy, and sharing your assets* with those less fortunate.

12. (Judging) Observe, but never judge. Seek out the differences in others and then celebrate them, for such diversity** is the true potpourri of humanity and will enrich you with the knowledge and wisdom of the human experience.

13. (Recognition) Serve enthusiastically as a spokesperson for the accomplishments and concerns of others. Attentive leaders crusade for the injustices, issues, ideas, and achievements of those less able to speak for themselves and give ample recognition for their origin.

14. (Values) Uphold this Value System, especially under adverse conditions, not to please someone else, but to honor the unfaltering principles within you, to validate your character as the type of person you want to be, and to gradually realize the awesome potential of being human.

*assets = One’s strength, capacity to help, capacity to protect, capacity to defend, and capacity to rescue. One’s abilities, education, talents, insight, wisdom, labor, knowledge, wealth, belongings, property, and any similar thing that can be utilized to bring benefit to another.

**diversity = one’s abilities, interests, talents, experiences, beliefs, customs, culture, points-of-view, rituals, influences, networks, assets, and any beneficial characteristic distinguishing one person from another.

Modeling Future Heroes
A Practical Application of Human Values

Problem Solving, Conflict Resolution, and Goal-Reaching Techniques
The Tuskegee Airmen 4-Test GAP (Goal Assurance Protection) Matrix Model

     A problem-solving matrix was developed for resolving today's problems based on how the Tuskegee Airmen solved and addressed their
nearly insurmountable goals. It has been tested in multiple environments and found extremely effective. This approach may be used in team,
individual, personal, or negotiation problem solving and emphasizes a positive solution to problems preventing them from escalating into a crisis.
Care must be used to select the largest goal; therefore, the problem must be an encountered obstacle (stepping stone) in reaching your main goal. The problem is never the goal! The goal is always an extremely high accomplishment when compared to the problem. There are usually many solutions to the problem that will hamper or destroy any possibility of reaching the goal. There are usually fewer solutions to the problem that will assist in reaching the goal. Therefore, the Tuskegee Airmen’s 4-Test GAP solution solves the problem while bringing you closer to your goal
without “burning any bridges” or creating additional problems that must be addressed later. Negative feelings often create future problems and are avoided in the model. Evaluating alternative solutions automatically occurs by repeating the model in sequential phases until a satisfactory action is reached.
     The Tuskegee Airmen 4-Test GAP model also helps verify that the problem is stated correctly. If a satisfactory solution does not start to form after 3 phases, you might want to restate the problem. For example, you might think the problem is your top salesmen are not working hard enough because sales are declining, but the real problem is your competition has a better and cheaper alternative for your product and you need to modernize your product line to better compete.
     The Tuskegee Problem Solving Model also helps avoid harsh instinctual responses allowing more time for non-instinctual free choice decisions. However, if a fight-or-flight instinctual solution is required, the model amazingly allows for such an occurrence.

Summary of Advantages of Tuskegee Airmen 4-Test GAP Problem Solving Model

The model can be used for business, political, diplomatic, family, and personal problems.
The model can be used for minor annoyance problems through major-crises situations.
The model can be used in individual or in team and group environments.
The model puts the problem into its proper perspective with the goal.
This keeps problem solutions from endangering the goal.
This often eliminates the problem by making it insignificant or turns it into an unforeseen advantage.
The model helps insure the problem is not stated correctly.
The model helps insure that the Desired Solution is realistic, for often there are better solutions than the initially desired results.
The model requires the chosen solution always creates an advance toward the ultimate goal.
The model requires the chosen solution does not create new problems that must be dealt with later (burning bridges or alienating others).
The model can be used for practicing passive excellence and human-values implementation.

For an introductory lesson using the Tuskegee Airmen GAP Problem-Solving Matrix-click on the red tail mustang.

Modeling Future Heroes
A Practical Application of Human Values

The Five Terms Created for this Course
Developed by Roger F. Cram from his research into how heroes of peace resolved problems and conflict.

The Five New Terms and Levels of Learning Created for this Course

The First Level of Learning - Instinctual Behaviors - Term (1) - Non-Instinctual Free Choice: Learning to recognize counter productive, instinctual, knee-jerk reactions (aggression, dominance, jealousy, possessiveness, the need to always be right, etc.), and being able to make a behavioral change to positively countermeasure these reactions. For example: Using reason and negotiation instead of retaliatory aggression when encountering conflict and maintaining your enemy’s dignity throughout their defeat and recovery. (Researched from The Curse of Being Human by Jack Soules, professor emeritus at Cleveland State University and associate member of the North Coast Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen)

The Second Level of Learning – Term (2) - Passive Excellence: Leading by quiet example while influencing change, not by criticizing others, but by demonstrating ones excellence, talent, and abilities; performing with highest of standards under adverse conditions, not to please others, but to satisfy your internal value system; peacefully confronting ridicule and criticism by repeatedly producing quality in all endeavors. (Developed from the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy)

The Third Level of Learning – Term (3) - Self-Actualization Engagement: Based only on human values and without regard for consequences, making immediate, accurate, and critical decisions - often during a major crises – guided by the obligation of service to others. Realizing and justifying the immediate need to “…march into hell for a heavenly cause.” (Developed from the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy and the twenty-one world heroes of peace.)

The Fourth Level of Learning – Term (4) - Ego-Free Compassion: Performing acts of generosity and kindness for others - often strangers - anonymously, without receiving satisfaction, recognition, or reward from any source other than from deep within; giving simply to increase the amount of goodness in the world. (Developed from Hal Reichle, U.S. Army helicopter pilot killed in the 1991 Gulf War & the resulting world-wide organization, SSSSH)

The Fifth Level of Learning – Term (5) - Human-Values Implementation: Empowering our behavior with the tools of non-instinctual free choice, ego-free compassion, passive excellence, and self-actualization engagement, thus becoming the master of ourselves while enriching other people and the world around us. (Developed from the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy and our impoverished world heroes of peace.)

Developed and Copyrighted © Roger F. Cram, July 2006, from his studies of the Tuskegee Airmen Legacy and other heroes of peace.

We all need inspirational heroes as role models for our lives. Unfortunately, today's heroes are often sports figures, celebrities, and rock stars whose lives are laced with controversy as well as frequent appearances in our over-crowed court rooms. We need, however, exemplary heroes with proven values demonstrating respect for their fellow humans. We need to understand conflict resolution practices ending in peaceful solutions with dignity and respect being preserved for all sides. We need to understand and value a work ethic showing the rewards for diligence and quality coupled with the many benefits of continuing our education throughout our lives. Forgiveness should preside over revenge, and acceptance and learning from another's diversity should easily outshine the dull embers of discrimination.

We found other heroes of peace have similar value systems and conflict-resolution techniques as the Tuskegee Airmen and Women. All these wonderful role models mirror each other's value system indicating common characteristics of human goodness universally used to fight for peace, righteousness, and human dignity. This course, therefore, also studies the similarities between our world heroes of peace and the Tuskegee Airmen. This serves as positive reinforcement for the remarkable effectiveness of these values.