Excellent post as always, Scott. Since you asked, my current situation is that I have edited and published my late brother‘s memoir. Almost everyone who reads it tells me it should be a movie or a Netflix series. This whole environment is new to me so I’m looking for possible connections to make this happen.
That's impressive, Donna. I hope your good fortune does justice to your brother's memory. And I'll certainly let you know if I can think of any connections for you.
“A person's name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.”
I've always felt this statement to be well-intentioned, but a bit generalized.
· People who suffer depression often dread hearing their name.
· People who are deeply in debt often fear hearing their name.
· People who are being stalked by a crazy ex-husband, etc.
Not everyone likes hearing their own name. I do, now. At a previous point in my life, I suffered from severe depression and — to quote The Smiths — "a shyness that is criminally vulgar," so I know firsthand what the feeling of dreading your own name is like.
How do we safely address people for whom we do not know this to be the case?
Dave (and I'm calling you Dave because you said you're okay with it), you bring up an important and what I'm guessing is an often overlooked point with respect to the above. It's about context.
As you say, people who are hurting in some ways don't want to be reminded of it by people who could use their name in connection with that pain. A superficial parallel might be when a parent calls you by your *full* name. You know you're in trouble.
Thanks for reminding us that not everyone comes to this with the same experience.
I try to bear in mind that Carnegie, while he had amazing ideas and methods, lived in an era when people were still treating depression with electroshock therapy, lobotomies, or simply telling people to “buck up.”
While depression has been described since the Ancient Greeks, it wasn’t until the 1970s, 20 years after Carnegie’s death, that the true causes of depression were being discovered.
Struggling with incompetent local elected officials who only tell the truth occasionally. How best to highlight/confront this nationwide epidemic when it hits so close to home.
There does seem to be an epidemic of lying lately, doesn't there? And this is more than the cliched "politicians lie" trope. We're talking about full-blown sociopathic lies and blatant gaslighting.
It's very frustrating, and aside from addressing these issues head-on, I'm not sure what else there is to do. Speaking "truth to power" is an old nugget, and I suppose that with the advent of so many utterances and behaviors being documented these days, we have the ability now more then ever to show proof.
It takes courage, it takes resilience, and it takes the efforts of more than one person to make it work. Hopefully we can band together to make truth, honor, and integrity back on top.
Excellent post as always, Scott. Since you asked, my current situation is that I have edited and published my late brother‘s memoir. Almost everyone who reads it tells me it should be a movie or a Netflix series. This whole environment is new to me so I’m looking for possible connections to make this happen.
That's impressive, Donna. I hope your good fortune does justice to your brother's memory. And I'll certainly let you know if I can think of any connections for you.
“A person's name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.”
I've always felt this statement to be well-intentioned, but a bit generalized.
· People who suffer depression often dread hearing their name.
· People who are deeply in debt often fear hearing their name.
· People who are being stalked by a crazy ex-husband, etc.
Not everyone likes hearing their own name. I do, now. At a previous point in my life, I suffered from severe depression and — to quote The Smiths — "a shyness that is criminally vulgar," so I know firsthand what the feeling of dreading your own name is like.
How do we safely address people for whom we do not know this to be the case?
Dave (and I'm calling you Dave because you said you're okay with it), you bring up an important and what I'm guessing is an often overlooked point with respect to the above. It's about context.
As you say, people who are hurting in some ways don't want to be reminded of it by people who could use their name in connection with that pain. A superficial parallel might be when a parent calls you by your *full* name. You know you're in trouble.
Thanks for reminding us that not everyone comes to this with the same experience.
I try to bear in mind that Carnegie, while he had amazing ideas and methods, lived in an era when people were still treating depression with electroshock therapy, lobotomies, or simply telling people to “buck up.”
While depression has been described since the Ancient Greeks, it wasn’t until the 1970s, 20 years after Carnegie’s death, that the true causes of depression were being discovered.
Struggling with incompetent local elected officials who only tell the truth occasionally. How best to highlight/confront this nationwide epidemic when it hits so close to home.
There does seem to be an epidemic of lying lately, doesn't there? And this is more than the cliched "politicians lie" trope. We're talking about full-blown sociopathic lies and blatant gaslighting.
It's very frustrating, and aside from addressing these issues head-on, I'm not sure what else there is to do. Speaking "truth to power" is an old nugget, and I suppose that with the advent of so many utterances and behaviors being documented these days, we have the ability now more then ever to show proof.
It takes courage, it takes resilience, and it takes the efforts of more than one person to make it work. Hopefully we can band together to make truth, honor, and integrity back on top.
I am considering starting a personal Substack to gather community thoughts on this problem.