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Language has always intrigued me. For me, it is the English language. However, I am confident that my observations are applicable to other languages. Language is taught to children in order that they may communicate with us.
To me, there is much more to it. As we teach language we are
also defining that child’s world. In order for the child to understand
the word, we put it into context for them. This flower is pretty, this
weed is not. We feed them baby food at first. We give them strained
carrots and repeat to them ‘mmmm’, ‘this is good’, ‘yummy’, and ‘You
will love this’. Guess what? They love carrots.
If you feed them strained spinach and they immediately spit
it out and make a funny face you laugh and laugh. Now maybe next time
they might like strained spinach, yet due to the positive feedback you
gave them they will continue to spit it out and make funny faces. Guess
what they don’t love spinach.
You teach them the word ‘Beautiful’. They overhear you
seeing some perfect 10 and you say, “She/He is beautiful. Now a 10 to
us is one thing. A 10 in other cultures/ethnicities might be very
different. In Polynesian areas, I understand that a four hundred pound
man is really a 10. The point I am trying to make is that not only are
we teaching our children to communicate but we are also defining their
world. We are teaching them beauty, love, pleasantness, other esoteric
concepts, and biases according to your culture and your viewpoint on
life. Different people will have differing levels of influence on the
child.
It seems that we carry these teachings throughout our lives.
Yes, some like spinach when they grow older but they had to unlearn
what they were taught. An inconsequential thing, yet what other
teachings lie deeper within us. For the most part, our worldview has
been taught from an external source.
It is time to unlearn
everything we have been taught. Every thought, action, or reaction I
question as to ‘Who taught me that?’ Search within to replace that
knowledge which is someone else’s interpretation of this journey and
replace it with your own authenticity.
Dayvid
Click on author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
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