Perhaps in your old culture, as in some non-Western cultures, the life of the individual is regarded as precious. Some cultures even seem to endow a person's life with a certain measure of sanctity. In these other cultures, such person-oriented features are often played out loudly and visibly. And in the process of living according to the precepts of these features, the neighbors preach their benefits and the children sing the attributes, often in folkloric renditions of appreciation for the exceptional quality of their cultural tenets.