Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh, a chairde, hello my friends and welcome to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
The Bluffer was thinking about luachanna - values this week, about those he has, those he needs to work at to make sure he doesn’t end up like Dominic Raab.
Ionraiceas - honesty is certainly in his Top Ten.
“Duine ionraice atá ionam” - I am an honest person – which is more than many world leaders could say in the mirror and honesty seems to have lost its value in today’s world where tá an chumhacht níos tábhachtaí ná an chóir - power is more important that justice.
But what values guide our lives and which do we admire most in other people? What are the most important ones?
We all value cineáltas - kindness in people, the bus driver who waits on you, the person who hands you the money you dropped, the gníomh cineáltais gan choinne - random act of kindness.
Doesn’t it make your day when something like that happens?
It shows that some (most?) people have comhbhá - compassion towards others and that they are iontaofa - trustworthy.
We use trust as a way of gauging people. The ones we trust become our friends, the people we can share our secrets with.
People who share the same values tend to bond together and that creates dílseacht - loyalty, whether it is in a family or in a political party, in a football club or whatever.
Tá Seán agus Máire iontach dílis dá chéile - Seán and Máire are very loyal to each other.
People can also bond together through a common spioradáltacht - spirituality or creideamh - faith with all the principles and ethics contained therein.
But what values do we want to instil into our children?
We want them to be neamhspleách - independent but then hate it when they don’t do what we tell them!
We want them to be láidir - strong and tough but not to the extent that they become the school bully and that is where strength mixed with dáimh - a fellow-feeling or natural affection for other people is vital.
We’d like them to be sona - happy, but we aren’t really sure what happiness is because it’s different for everyone.
We want them to excel at sports and academic subjects but also to have the umhlaíocht - humility not to look down their noses at others.
We want our kids to be full of féintuilleamaí - self-reliance and misneach - courage and we want them to look after us in our old age!
Neamhleithleachas - selflessness, to the Bluffer’s mind is overrated.
There are times when you need to put yourself first, for your own state of mind so while many values are to do with being nice to other people, a little bit of féinghrá - self-love is important too as is féinmheas - self-respect.
There are many other values that are important - generosity, empathy and for some people creativity and the arts are very important.
What do you think. dear readers? What values motivate what you do?
CÚPLA FOCAL
luachanna (looakhana) - values
ionraiceas (unreekas) - honesty
duine ionraice atá ionam(dinya unreeka ataa unim) - I am an honest person
tá an chumhacht níos tábhachtaí ná an chóir (taa un khooakht nees taowakhtee naa un khore) - power is more important that justice
cineáltas (kinyaaltis) - kindness
gníomh cineáltais gan choinne (greeoo kinyaltish gun khunya) - a random act of kindness
comhbhá (coe-waa) - compassion
iontaofa (unteefa) - trustworthy
dílseacht (jeelshakht) - loyalty
Tá Seán agus Máire iontach dílis dá chéile - (taa Shaan agis Myra eentakh jeelish da kayla) Seán and Máire are very loyal to each other.
spioradáltacht (spiradaaltakht) - spirituality
creideamh (credge-oo) - faith
láidir (liyjer) - strong
dáimh (daav) - a natural affection for other people.
sona (sunna) - happy
umhlaíocht (ooleeakht) - humility
féintuilleamaí (fayntillamee) - self-reliance
misneach (mishnyakh) - courage
neamhleithleachas (nyawo-lehlahiss) - selflessness
féinghrá (fayngraa) - self-love
féinmheas (faynvass) - self-respect
