By Ron Baker
Those who get doctorates in the British academic system are said to be “reading ______” (insert the subject or academic discipline).
Exams or midterms or assignments are peripheral. The expectation is that you will read everything about a subject – that is your true assignment. Your dissertation/final project is a way to determine if this is true – if you truly are an expert in that subject. If your knowledge is proved sufficient you are granted a doctorate based on the examination of your peers. You are then expected to use your knowledge for the good of others.
I feel like we are living in a time when people think they have read everything there is to say on a subject – and should be granted the title of expert, Doctor! They may have “read’ the media outlets they like – confirming their own bias. They may even have read another opposite view – but not with a view to understand but merely to criticize.
From their own biased reading they conjecture a “best practice” to solve a the world’s problems. When someone disagrees, they stand on their rights to have the right to be right in their own eyes. Their “best practices” do not take into account, nor do they consider worthy, what others from another perspective have said.
We used to call this arrogance. Various definitions I have found inform us that – an arrogant person has a feeling of superiority regarding their own worth and importance while being in contempt of others.
In such a case, when the arrogant do not seek to understand and acknowledge others, they dis-”miss” them. When a society moves to that stage of overlooking and erasing others, fear is created and nurtured.
What you want is not to be cast out, dismissed or rejected. You want your opinions weighed. You want to be corrected out of love and not superiority. While disagreement in principle and policy may happen, you want to be heard – you are an open book to be read for understanding and not for selfish gain.
Lets take one step closer to the “other” – and join our lives together.
We dismiss fear when we join in loving others, not dismissing them.
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