Have you ever read Orson Scott Card's book Ender’s Game? I suggest it, and even though it is generally geared toward younger readers, it has some insiteful points.
Here is one that I would like to ponder. What effect do our everyday comments have on our society? Would we hear a catchy phrase and wonder if it was our own in origin?
Neh, haven’t read it
I have this sort of abstract picture of when I think of such things. When I do something now, I see like a sort of spiderweb of influence that radiates out from my everyday actions. So I wonder how far into the future my everyday actions are affecting.
I’ll leave you with a quote from ‘tuesdays with morrie’. Great book if you haven’t read it yet…
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. "
then, if that is the case (which i do agree with), we must be careful of our actions. it is very easy to comminicate what is not actually true (which happens all the time). i wonder what effect our ignorance has as it travels your “web.”
I have 2 little sisters. I see them like little bonsai trees. I have to shape and cut them, and eventually they will grow into the future women. My mother also participates in this. Somtimes, my mothers lack of insight into something that my sisters do, will leave her impotent to correct it. Where she may lack insight, and I have it, then I can fill the gaps in my sisters education. But I’m not perfect, and I have gaps aswell. There’s only so much that I can evolve in my life, and so I’m pushing my sisters to grasp what I already have. And eventually I hope that they can build on top of what I already give them, so that they will evolve to greater heights than I can. I’m like the bow, firing my arrows(sisters) into the future. And I do this with everyone I meet. I’m like an evangelist, only I have no religion.
Ignorance will manifest themselves as negative attributes in the personality. Anger could be an ignorance of our lack of control, violence can be an ignorance of the damage it causes to others body’s, hate can be an ignorance of other people’s ignorance.
I don’t worry so much about what ignorance I may pass on. It will be their job to see where I didn’t. What’s important is that I try to evolve myself, and to take responsibility for others aswell. In this way, I can try and pick the best piece of web to spin.
Is ender’s game that book where the kid was trained from birth to fight or something close to that? I didn’t read it but I think my friend told me about it. It reminded me of that movie with kurt russel (dunno spelling) where he was trained to have no mercy and to kill.
I don’t like the idea of raising someone in your image. I’d rather raise someone not to be ignorant and to think free than to raise someone to think like me. Even that has flaws though so I guess there is really no perfect way to raise your kid.
something like that, but im not gonna get into a summary of it…
there isnt a perfect way. i think you worded that wrong, dont you mean force someone into your image? because one cannot raise a child by saying “you must not be like i” with every little with every detail of one’s existance.
i know the above statement may raise objection. you might say “what of the criminal, would he/she raise his/her child to be a criminal?”. well, maybe, but that criminal will have his own morales (be they twisted or nay) and he/she will indoctrinate these beliefs or ideas…
but that wasnt what i really wanted from this post (i guess i shoulda put more into the opening statement). i wasnt thinking on a bigger scale, like: national, continental, and maybe wordly…
When you grow up, you learn about life from those around you. In a way, they are sort of like your image, but then they have to go find their individuality at a certain time…much like the time of adolescence.