Do me a favor. I want you to think about the person or persons that influenced you.... to buy a house. Get an education. Be a productive person. Be responsible about having children. Get and keep a job. I always tell my daughter, "you are who you hang with". Do you believe that? Who did you hang around? Who made you the person that you are? I'll bet you right now your answer to the majority of these questions are.... a family member, a teacher, some neighbor or a pastor. What's my point?
If you don't have anyone that is a positive influence in your life, anyone to teach you how to become a productive, responsible person that respect life and property and value education then what happens? Lack of discernment happens. You lose the ability to recognize differences between right and wrong, what is appropriate and what is not, what is moral and what is immoral. If you look over your life I am willing to bet that someone taught you about discernment. Do you see what an affect not having the influences of both parents (our first teachers), clergy, neighbors, and school instructors have had on society.
How do we rebuild? Where do we start? Try mentoring someone. I have mentored in formal programs and just to whomever I feel could use my counsel. I teach my adult women friends about finances, talk to young couples about marriage, nag high school boys about keeping it in their pants and encourage college girls not to give it up so easy.
O.K. it is not a perfect plan but it is a start. What do you think? Who have you influenced? Who influenced you?
I hope that I've had a positive influence on many hundreds of kids. I was a teacher for almost 20 years and have done my bit... or have I? My problem is that I just can't stop being a teacher but I do try to keep quite and let younger people have their say once in a while.
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I have a little inner voice, which speaks to me, guiding me through life. Some call it intuition. Perhaps it's an angel. I guess my mother was my most important guide. Hey, dream weaver--it's me:
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I work with special needs kids, so I try and influence them of course - but I also work at talking to other children about disabilities and being different in the hopes of curtailing misunderstanding - and bullying.
ReplyDeleteOn occasion, I've written letters to people who have influenced me. The most recent one was to my childhood dentist (who's long retired) to let him know that his kindness and gentleness kept me from growing up with the crippling fear of dentistry that some people have to cope with.
This was a great topic to choose :-)
I love this post! Yes, we can all make a difference in people's lives. I'm fortunate that as a private music teacher, I get to work one-on-one with kids. I watch them grow and gain confidence. It's so rewarding! I also have my teachers and parents to thank for encouraging me to work hard and be the best I can be.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Since most of my time is absorbed by my own children, for now that is who I influence. I try to say balanced in nature and diligent because their little peepers are always on me. :)
ReplyDeleteI've had an incredible female support network for the past decade within my mid-wives. I am a stronger and more creative woman and more of a patient mother because of them.
I'm so glad that we can share such beautiful thoughts across the web. Thanks Debra!
I hope I'm a positive influence in my children's, god children's, siblings and friends' kids' lives. A lot of people took part in providing positive influence in my life, and I'm grateful for that. As they say, it takes a village.
ReplyDeleteShannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z
I tend to be influenced by what I read so I read as eclectically and widely as possible. I guess my bestest friend has/is a great influence on me - he really taught me to loosen up and embrace my inner creative self. And I guess all those involved in my education were and are a great influence on me too! Yay! Take care
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My mom was the best influence on my life. I was blessed to have her. Many others have also had input in my life's decisions. I think you are doing great mentoring young people and helping others. I'm not so sure I have done that much.
ReplyDeleteVery thought-provoking post! It's funny how someone will tell me I've influenced them and I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteRosalind- there are way worse problems than eternal teacher
ReplyDeleteFrancene- intuition is good...mom better!
Li- what a great mentor you are my hats off to you
Sherry- I know you have an great impact on your students
Archna- your first mentoring job is mom and that is priceless
Shannon- it does take a village and someone like you
Kitty- you influence me and all who visit your blog
Inger- we all do our part no matter how big or small
Karen-you are influential to allof us wanna be writers
Congratulations! You did it! I've enjoyed your thoughtful posts, thanks! Now we can all take a deep breath and relax for a minute. I hope.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog via 'Whatever' blog's recommendation. I loved this post and agree with your sentiments. So important to have good role models, even if you don't follow them, it's good to see good behaviour in action. Good to meet you on the A-Z, even if a bit late! New follower :)
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