Generational Learning

There’s a cycle that happens as the human race interacts: we are constantly teaching each other within it. As we grow in maturity, we encounter people with habits and personalities we don’t want to emulate and we see what we don’t like, who we don’t want to be, sometimes who we are, and change to be who we want to be in response. I have learned from an acquaintance to never react in anger and to listen respectfully when people give advice. I know that I let my emotions dictate how I act toward people, and sometimes I react with passion in anger to others. I see that reaction in my acquaintance and it’s appalling to me. I recognize that what they do is familiar to me and by observing them from the outside I learn who I don’t want to be, what is best, and why. It’s a cycle of observing others and learning from their mistakes (which often are already ours). We see ourselves in others, can observe the effects of our reactions from afar and therefore be who we want to be. We learn from those around us.

7/12/11