Quite often, while watching a television documentary or reading an article in a publication, there will be something in the contents of the presentation that will evoke thought. For me, some of the most provoking of those thoughts tend to gravitate around the way human beings live and behave. My wife and I often disagree on what an appropriate response is to the various situations that humans find themselves in, but recently we have come together on one fact. The fact that there is an obvious difference between humans that are educated and have experienced the world on a larger scale, to those who are only interested in experiencing their own little senseless and selfish world.
There is an endless lack of understanding in my mind as to why many people think in the manner that they do. There are times when I want to scream out loud at some of the ridiculous lives that people allow themselves to live in. Why do they not want a better life for themselves? Why do they surround themselves with people that are such bad influences? Why do they not want to listen to the advice of those that have lived the same life that they are about to live? Why do they think they know what they are doing when it is blatantly obvious that they do not? In almost all cases the answers point back to a lack of education, not to mention a lack of respect for a great number of things, the lack of common sense and just being lazy. They find it easier to go through a life of drama, turmoil and struggle instead of taking steps to change their surroundings for the better.
Being exposed to healthy elements in life, both personally and professionally, can make a huge difference in a life. Knowledge and experience are two of those healthy elements that will contribute to good personal and professional health. Knowledge is built up with education and also with experience. Experience also has the additional critical element of building confidence. Confidence is very important and with having and increased level of confidence, comes the additional responsibility of keeping that confidence in balance. History is littered with short lived instances where individuals and their, out of balance confidence, have caused great suffering and setbacks to humanity. Becoming an egotistical jerk can be just as bad as having no education at all and will not support the overall effort. A person should always be able to accept the fact that no matter how smart or how good they are at something, there is probably someone that is better. The success of the project is what is important and not who is the most talented in the group.
Interacting with other professionals and sharing information is both educational and just straight up interesting. Every interaction gives fuel for future interactions. Interactions provide experience that can be gained without having to shed any of your own blood to gain it. Professional relationships that are forged, result in added resources and additional capacities that would now be available for both entities in the relationship. Developing these professional relationships can help foster new ideas and allow for great things to happen on a larger scale.
The world is a very big place and full of many people, places and things. There is much history with many lessons for humanity. In equal abundance is the large quantity of science and technology that is occurring all around us all of the time. It is so easy to be a better and smarter person if we can steer clear of the tendency to base our ideas on our own small set of experiences.
Joe McLaughlin
