INDOMITABLE SPIRIT of COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Monday, October 26, 2020
When a child is struggling to walk for the first time, what do we do?
We coax them to ‘try to take that first step,’ and we enthusiastically cheerlead whether progress or success occurs just then.
A relentless effort is all that child needs.
We don’t scold; we encourage.
We don’t ignore; we offer support and cheerleading.
They have to master walking before they can run. And once they walk, we never have to encourage them again. We support and coach them to run fast, jump high, achieve things, and allow us to live vicariously through their successes. OK, not everybody, we know a lot of people who do that …
We are all learning to walk again.
We need to encourage and self-support our failures because we will learn to walk in this new world, and then we’ll run fast again.
Progress is hard to measure whether we are making sales, making headway executing on any long term plan in life. We need to pay attention to our progress, however tiny, and validate ourselves – just as we validate others.
We are crawling, trying to get back on our feet – every one of us alone, and every one of us together.
We need to cheer ourselves along, especially when progress doesn’t seem visible.
Let’s encourage effort, let’s encourage strategy, let’s encourage falling down just as we encourage standing tall.
The news is bleak nearly everywhere.
Our outlook, however, needn’t be bleak.
Let’s try standing up today, helping each other to stand up, let’s cheer everyone who wants to walk, cheer everyone who wants to run – and let’s celebrate everyone who falls or stumbles. We are all in this together. I recall so many unity events in our past when we were all on the same team in a country so often divided politically and regionally because we never came together in spirit so intensely as when we were cheering for Team Canada.
It didn’t matter which sport or contest, we cheered for our country. In fighting the spread of COVID-19 and engaging our think/work/struggle capabilities together, we CAN BE a newer and better Team Canada.
Relentless effort is all we need …
We can, and ought to, reach out to our fellow Canadians, across the street or across the country – we are competing against a familiar and common foe. It isn’t COVID-19, it isn’t a vaccine, and it isn’t a politician or their government – it’s our ability to stand, then walk, and then run again.
We may have forgotten some essential skills, but we can learn them again.
We’ll all stumble a few times, but if we are relentless, we’ll be successful.
And, for others, for our friends and colleagues who struggle, remember:
We don’t scold; we encourage.
We don’t ignore; we offer support and cheerleading.
We thought we were grown and knew everything we need to know, but we were wrong – so need to grow, learn new things, relearn old things, and open our minds. If we open arms and hearts too, bonus!
Reader feedback:
Mark, I know you’re talking about looking ahead personally. The threat of a virus being the next big thing was seen during Barack Obama’s time. His reaction was to provide the major funding to get ready for same. Mr. Trump defunded that program early in his tenure. I hope we all know where his loyalties lie. Too bad we don’t get to cast our vote. LH, Lethbridge, AB
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