Two strong messages came to me today -- how limiting words can be and how innocent children can be. It all came from a conversation with a student. The student had been in a tough situation with some other students. The experience had been labeled as being "harrasement". While the student was terribly disturbed by the experience; calling it "harrasement" added a whole other layer of complexity, severity and confusion in the mind of this innocent child.
As I spoke to the student, I found myself explaining how hugely varied people's responses can be to situations and how differently they can speak of them. I also explained that it isnt the words that define how severe something is. It is the feelings that decide how sever something is. Yet, we use words to describe complex things like feelings and we stick to those words as if they were the "last word" in every situation. Words are really a shortcut - an iconic representation that makes an attempt to capture all the emotion, concepts, cultural background, past experiences and current mood that we are expressing when we say them.
When I finished the conversation, I found myself feeling refreshed and touched with magic! In explaining the use of language and the varied nature of human responses to the student, I had been able to look at something anew -- something I had taken for granted for so long. I felt magic at the innocence of the student and the completely untainted approach with which a child sees the world.
I am learning as I am teaching ...I am learning about living ..but I wonder if these words can convey what I am feeling ...
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