yay this works!
I really appreciate s2hui's response to the 'playing small' post. Thanks s2hui~it's good to hear other people's responses to random ideas posted here.
Maybe I should add some more cents on what I *think* the author's point is: I read her quote as a challenge to people who, for WHATEVER reason, are scared to do what they're gifted in , OR, are ignorant of what they're gifted in, and so, don't do it, OR similarly, think so LITTLE of what they have to offer, that they don't do anything at all!
AND, at the risk of grossly generalizing, this is something I noticed in a lot in the Asian children and teens I worked with in my last two real jobs! I didn't do a rigorous study or anything, BUT, I was grieved to see really bright, multi-gifted Asian young people downplaying their own abilities, not speaking up or taking intiative, and letting others take the lead out of fear, ignorance of the worth of their contributions, or a skewed view of how others will perceive them. Anyway, just something I wonder about...
On a less weighty note: I FREAKED myself out LIKE CRAZY over SOMETHING recently--it was a case of TOO MUCH INFORMATION available to me on the internet and MAJOR paranoia. And maybe heat exhaustion. I'm cursed with an overactive imagination!!
Maybe I should add some more cents on what I *think* the author's point is: I read her quote as a challenge to people who, for WHATEVER reason, are scared to do what they're gifted in , OR, are ignorant of what they're gifted in, and so, don't do it, OR similarly, think so LITTLE of what they have to offer, that they don't do anything at all!
AND, at the risk of grossly generalizing, this is something I noticed in a lot in the Asian children and teens I worked with in my last two real jobs! I didn't do a rigorous study or anything, BUT, I was grieved to see really bright, multi-gifted Asian young people downplaying their own abilities, not speaking up or taking intiative, and letting others take the lead out of fear, ignorance of the worth of their contributions, or a skewed view of how others will perceive them. Anyway, just something I wonder about...
On a less weighty note: I FREAKED myself out LIKE CRAZY over SOMETHING recently--it was a case of TOO MUCH INFORMATION available to me on the internet and MAJOR paranoia. And maybe heat exhaustion. I'm cursed with an overactive imagination!!
posted by Duncan and Jen | 8:51 PM
3 Comments:
OK I see your points now with more clarity :) Taken in the way you describe (I suppose it is hard sometimes to understand things out of context), I also think that it is bad and unfortunate to have all these talents and not do anything with them. It really is a shame and a waste. And yes I have to agree that alot of it has to do with asian culture. It's true! I think in general though (asian or not) it takes a very big person to be able to see talent in themselves and act on it. Aside from the cultural influences, I think people just generally don't like rejection, failure, change, the unknown or some people are just lazy and unmotivated. I think that these reasons also play a large part in people living small too (or even knowingly choosing to live small).
Overactive imagination... hee hee... that was what everybody said about our experience in Thailand on honeymoon.
Welcome to the world of blogging.... except Blogger is blocked in China. =(
Candeo - I am not religious, but I am a justice-y type and you have raised two quotes that I love and feel challenged by: Wiesel's and Williamson's. And you have raised them in tandem, which is fascinating, because to me, they echo each other. Wiesel calls for our defense of humanity, for us to find voice on injustice. We focus much on the first part of the Williamson quote, the part Mandela made famous. But it's the last lines that speak most strongly about the consequences of “acting big”: "And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
By striving to shine - not in the way of being better than others, but in measuring ourselves against our own capacities – we are not neutral. We cannot be neutral in aspiring to know goodness. Neutrality is fear is holding back is not delineating between right and wrong. Why did Auschwitz happened? Perhaps – and this is simply an opinion of one who was not there - people during WWII feared not failure but their abilities to be powerful, to speak a truth and demonstrate a goodness so bright and _right_ that the men with the guns would be fearful and turn their wrath on those who spoke out – but by staying silent, those people could not be liberated from their fears of harm and thus did nothing to remove the pain and suffering from their fellow brothers and sisters.
If humanity is to include joy and glory as well as pain and suffering, to demonstrate the former, to shine, is to contrast and draw attention to the actions of those who cause pain and suffering. That is my food for thought, Nephron.
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