I've been thinking about advice today and whether you can really give it to someone. We watched Super Size Me today in Documentary class and my pattern of thought resurfaced when Morgan Spurlock's girlfriend told him he needed to think about what he was doing to his body. At first Spurlock thought she was telling him to become vegan like her but she said that wasn't what she meant.
What I've been thinking has to do with how my parents raised and taught me. When they told me things, they didn't always take time to "make a lesson" out of it. This I seem to regret, as a form of individual attention in a family with 6 kids. My mother specifically, I remember generally teaching us life lessons on the run, as they came up. Not that I agree with this method, but I probably don't agree with the method you're thinking of either. Can you really tell a child to do things a certain way? Or to do one thing and not another?
Can you tell someone to lose weight? Yes. Will they do it? Probably not. I think the moment they decide to lose weight will come on its own, without nagging. It may come during a training regimen, the same way some contestants on The Biggest Loser choose to continue with a healthy lifestyle after the show ends. They were forced to exercise and eat healthy, and then at some point it occurred to them that they truly wanted to and were going to do this for their lifetime.
What are my deepest convictions? The ones I see occur time and time again in my life. Personal, dirty, and close to home, they define my existence and continue to be proven. An example: "change occurs gradually, not overnight."
See how I didn't say "Rome wasn't built in a day?"
So my point is that you have to show people, not tell them. Language isn't as useful for criticism and teaching as it is for declarative communication. The subtext and deeper meaning has ultimately to be derived by the individual. These are some of my thoughts. I'm getting tired and I just got back from eating after I wrote that "Rome" comment. So I'm cutting these valuable nuggets short for now. Sad huh?
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