Say What?

so once a quarter for English 2 we have to write an OP or Occasional Paper. and so the criteria is that after something simple happens to you, you go back and reflect on it, on a deeper level than at the moment that it was happening to you. and so a few nights ago i was talking to my mom and then all of a sudden this just RUSHED into my mind and i tired to type it all out before i lost it lol. is it any good?

Say what?

Bailey Brigance

My mother and I were talking about one of my mom’s best friends, Joanie. Now, Joanie is a kind, hilarious woman, who does have respect for authority figures. Unless, of course, she feels they are completely wrong. At her last job, the company continued to do the exact same procedure and each time, it never gave the result desired. So my mother’s friend Joanie suggested, perhaps assertively, a new approach to correcting the problem. The boss over her pulled her to the side and, perhaps very assertively, explained to her that she had no authority to suggest things in a meeting like that. Needless to say she quit.

This got me thinking, deeply. Because you see Joanie and I are a lot alike. I appreciate authority and am often referred to as a teacher’s pet! However… I find it hard to keep my mouth shut when the right answer is so plain before my eyes, but hidden from theirs. I started to think and wonder why it mattered who said the right thing. Isn’t the only real thing that matters is that the right thing gets done? Why do we care about WHO says WHATEVER? Shouldn’t we really care that WHAT IS RIGHT is being said PERIOD?

In society as a whole I believe we focus too much on the “who”. Your parents, your teachers, your co-workers all tell you often to vote, but only when Paris Hilton wears a ‘Vote of Die’ t-shirt, do you say ‘Ahhh, this year, I think I’m going to vote!’ Or here is a maybe more relatable scenario.

Its Monday and you have brand new jeans! You are sitting in Personal Finance and you hear Suzie behind you tell Betty that you look fat in your jeans. You’re hurt, but you and Suzie were never very close anyway so you don’t worry about it. Now imagine its Thursday. You are sitting in Science class and Ms Osborne puts your class into groups of four. Suzie is in your group. Suzie has the greatest idea for what your project should be. If you go with Suzie’s plan you WILL get an A. You know Suzie is right. But you’re angry with her. You tell her her idea is stupid. You tell her to shut up and listen to your idea, which you know is not the better of the two.

Why? Why do we do that? We judge Suzie’s idea on what Suzie said three days ago! We judge Suzie’s idea on who Suzie is, instead of judging her idea on what kind of idea it is!

You should never accept or decline an idea because you like or dislike the person who stated it. You should always accept or decline an idea because you think it is right or because you think it is wrong.

too deep? too long? this are read out loud also so is the little story in the middle too much to follow a long with if you listening to it rather than reading it yourself? heeeelp hehehe