The I am right, you are wrong attitude has become our world view and we even have measurements, criteria, standards and grades to prove it. We have developed “norms” in every facet of life from how much a baby weighs to how many widgets a company produces in an hour or how fast we can grow corn.
Below “normal” is bad. We are disciplined at home, given detention at school, shamed into “flunking” out and having to watch our classmates move on to the next grade while we are held back to the grade behind us with younger kids, sometimes even our siblings so we will now be “normal.”
We are not hired, we get fired, are denied entrance into or get kicked out of college and we don’t get prestigious awards, honors or even funding to move forward to better ourselves if we don’t have the right “numbers.”
Most recently businesses, schools and government funding are viewed as credible if they can produce “evidence based practices” that are generally determined through expensive independent research over several years of tracking numbers based on you guessed it, somebody’s idea of what “should” be that meet certain criteria and standards that are above “average or the “normal” range.
When will we realize that the demise of our society is based on how we measure people’s value and refuse to look at them as unique, special, gifted and irreplaceable assets to our families, our schools, our businesses and our society?
Until we do we will continue to pay the price of a society of humans striving to get others to maintain their dignity and self respect in whatever way they can and the consequences are going to kills us, literally!
Abuse, bullying, school, workplace and social violence, terrorism and wars are the result of trying to force others to accept us, like us, think like we do or punish them because they don’t. Not a great business plan for a thriving, profitable and successful nation!
Maybe we want to consider a new model this year?!
Linda Larson Schlitz, MS,
Faucet of HOPE for Systemic Change
