Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Day 11 of 365

The worst advice you’ve ever heard, or ever been given


“Don’t mind them.”

I don’t consider it as the worst, but I really think this is the weirdest advice ever. I mean, imagine your little sister or brother running to you as they come home from school, telling you they’ve been bullied throughout… and all you’ll do is pat them softly, smile at them and give them that advice? ‘Don’t mind them?’

You can pretty much assume that I’m exaggerating things here. You’re both right and wrong. Right because there are much better advices you could give your sibling. Wrong, because advices isn’t the topic right now -- it’s the worst advice. In my case, I consider it weird.

I really think that’s the weirdest advice because that can mean different things to different people. “The message sent is not always the message received,” says our enduring understanding (guide quotes in school) in English.

True, because for one kid, ‘don’t mind them’ can mean ‘do your own thing and just carry on’, which is right. But for another, it can mean, ‘just don’t give a flying fuck and do whatever the fuck you want’, which isn’t right. It can mould a child -- and an adult too -- to think that whatever they’re doing is okay as long as they don’t let anyone ruin them, even if it’s morally wrong. It’s quite hard to explain, but I do hope you understand.

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