believe everyting you hear. December 16, 2008

Don’t believe everything you hear.

I often catch myself asking “Really?” whenever anyone tells me something of certain importance. It’s not that I don’t believe them, it’s just that maybe I don’t.

When I was little, I assumed everyone was telling the truth. I wasn’t jaded by experiences gone awry. In third grade, one of my classmates told me that her dad was the coach of the Chicago Bulls and I said “Wow!” not “Really?”. What has changed?

I am not a person that people set out to deceive. I haven’t suffered from people being untrue to me. I don’t have any reason to believe that people are not going to tell me the truth, because I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who do (tell me the truth). So what has made me this way?

I guess now that I’m growing older, I am supposed escape the trappings of being gullible. But if there wasn’t deception, the concept of being gullible wouldn’t even exist – so really it’s not my problem if I am gullible because the concept itself depends on something else that is anyone elses’ fault. So there.

Seriously, though, it is interesting. I think it is really about understanding. If we left deception (big and small) behind, then where would we be? I think we would arrive at a feeling of greater self-worth. For instance, I saw this TV show where wealthy people went out and found people in need and wrote them a large check. Every time, the people receiving the gift of money asked, “Really? For me?” And I think, why not you?! You’re worth it!

So maybe it would be a positive move to start believing everything we hear. Or at least to loosen up the filter a bit so as to let a little bit more through (we of course should still try to sidestep being completely ignorant).

Hmm…really?

I will, but I can’t December 8, 2008

Much like the Superbowl, I watch the Hallmark movies on CBS entirely for the commercials. I am genuinely disappointed by fleeting commercial breaks that are few and far between. But when they do come around, they are the most gut-wrenching, beautifully sentimental, tear-invoking moments that only the perfect greeting card can redeem.

Last night was different because the movie itself was just as good as the commercials. It followed a teacher, Brad Cohen, who has Tourette’s syndrome but once finally accepted to teach at a school, made an incredible impact on his students. It was particularly inspiring  to me because my sister is a teacher and I see the incredible effect she has on students and it really is a job with a lot of power to change the world.

The reason that Cohen became a teacher was because when he was a young boy in school, the principal taught him to embrace his disease. This principal explained that the other kids in school thought he was weird only because they were ignorant. So he educated the children, and they accepted him. Cohen took that same approach and applied it to his teaching philosophy. He educated his students about everything, encouraged them to ask questions,and would not allow them to be ignorant.

One line from the movie struck me in particular. It was something to the effect that the difference between children and adults is that children say “I will” when adults say “I can’t”. I thought that was so interesting and true, unfortunately. When we are children, we think we can take on the world. If someone challenges our ability to do something, we respond with a “Why not?”. We feel like we have all the time in the world to accomplish whatever we want. When we grow up, though, reality sets in and we realize how short life is and how limited we are. But what if we didn’t think that way? What if we proceeded as if we could achieve anything? Just proceeding in that way, it would not matter a whole heck of a lot if we actually did achieve everything. The fact that we believe we could some time in the future gives us hope, and that hope can carry us to do even better (though different) things.