-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Two FFA students play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" as part of Jason Wetzler's presentation to FFA students at the Clay County Fair. Wetzler had students doing all kinds of different things in an effort to help them understand who or what helps them shape their decisions and values.

SPENCER — Jason Wetzler, former national FFA officer from Oregon, entertained and inspired more than 400 FFA members from around northwest Iowa during his presentations at this year’s Clay County Fair with his messages about living with purpose and values.

Wetzler told students they have a choice in the direction their lives take, if they first know what their values are, then choose to live those values.

“Values are standards that guide behaviors of individuals that hold them, and serve as a basis for judging the behavior of others,” said Wetzler. “How do we know if we’re living on the right side of the (judgment) line if we don’t know what our values are?”

Students told him peer pressure plays a large role in their decision-making process, but Wetzler told them they can live with less peer pressure if they decide on and develop clear values, and make a conscious choice to live by those values — starting at their age.

Wetzler said less than 5 percent of people in the U.S. have clearly-defined, written-down values, and that indecision has created an environment of chaos and insanity. He went on to say that actions speak louder than words, giving others cause to judge, based on those actions.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Jason Wetzler, former national FFA officer, spoke to more than 400 FFA students from around northwest Iowa at the Clay County Fair. He spoke about finding purpose in life and living out the values they will choose to be important to them in the future.

“What do other people use to determine your values?” Wetzler asked FFA’ers. “Your actions. Is it fair to be judged on your actions?”

Students disagreed on the answer, with some saying “yes” because people are commonly judged by their actions. Others said they may have done regretful things when younger that they are still being judged on even after a time of maturing, and that it wasn’t necessarily a mistake on which someone should be judged, but what a person does afterward to fix a mistake should carry their true character judgment.

“If not your actions, then what?” asked Wetzler, adding that a person’s values need to be clear so their actions will also be clear, and they will not be misjudged or even led down a path of mental and emotional instability.

He told the FFA’ers if they didn’t stop to think about what their values are, others would decide that for them. He used celebrities as an example, and asked students to write down actions they’ve seen those celebrities do, then asked them to judge those people based on their own perceptions of the celebrities’ values. Have their actions created perceptions of good values?

Wetzler told students they needed to be careful with their actions, since other people can and do judge people solely by their actions, whether they are a true marker used to define a person or not.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
FFA students from around northwest Iowa participated in a workshop by Jason Wetzler that focused on defining purpose and living out values. An FFA student here writes something she has known a celebrity to do, as Wetzler said actions often speak louder than words when others define the values of other people.

“Would you be OK with the perceived values others have of you?” he asked them. “We might know what our purpose is — where we’re heading and what gives our lives meaning on a daily basis; but how are we doing with our friendships, our conversations and words we use, things we post, accounts we follow, the way we treat people and the way we treat strangers? Those are our values. And we have to know what our values are going to be.”

Wetzler asked students to choose from a list of 14 (starting) universal values, deciding which five were the most important to them. They included achievement, belonging, concern for the environment, concern for others, financial prosperity, health and activity, spirituality, humility, independence, loyalty to family or group, privacy, creativity, responsibility and scientific understanding.

After they selected five, he asked them to cross one off; then another, so they were left with three core values.

“You may not know in a week what your purpose is or values are, but very soon you will,” he said. “You’ll be able to look around at people in this room and say, ‘Were they living their lives on purpose? Were they making values-based decisions? Were our actions what we wanted people to see, or were we just living the same way we were before this?’ “

Wetzler grew up outside of Portland, Oregon, on a 14-acre school farm, since his mother was an ag teacher and FFA advisor. He rose up through the ranks of FFA, having served as a national officer. Wetzler has traveled the nation with his message of making the world a better place by making those around him better.

-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
Jason Wetzler, former national FFA officer and now motivational speaker, spoke with FFA students following his workshop at the Clay County Fair. He had students out of their seats, laughing, and thinking about their futures and how they will decide what's most important.

He said in industries like agriculture, the military or anything that is purpose-driven (where profit is probably secondary), people often do it because they love it and/or their family did it.

“There’s something inherent and innate about it. We just wake up knowing it’s what we’re meant to do,” he said, adding that makes it easier to find and know a purpose.

He said if something can be taken away from a person, it’s not their purpose.

“If you woke up one day and you could no longer farm, would it mean you no longer have a purpose? No. It just means you apply your purpose in a different way.”

Wetzler said he starts asking kids at a young age what things they would (literally) die for, then encourages them to apply that to their relationships, how they treat their health, their mental health, their academia and other parts of their lives.

“I think if I had advice to give myself when I was younger, it would be that, so that’s why I focus on it when I’m out speaking,” he said.