The Graceful Human

Did you know that there was a word for this? I definitely didn’t before writing this. And the irony of it, is that this is something we are ALL guilty of doing.

Are we doing it purposely? Not all the time. I don’t believe people generally set out or make it a mission to misinterpret or misunderstand others ( atleast I’d hope not)

So why does it happen?

Well, we are all connected by increasing globalization, particularly in our shared media and culture. The media, of course, disseminates information and we, as the individual, consume it. The value and legitimacy that we affix to that information, oftentimes is based on our perception of the person or organization, communicating it. Yes, some of us research for ourselves when we are fed information and *ding ding ding*, yes, this is a great thing to do. This is what sparks debate, conversation, and if you are open to it, growth 🙂

But the reality is that when we hear information from a source we trust – like a news channel we watch, or from someone we respect – we tend to loosen our guards with the whole research aspect of it and we, well, presume that what they are saying is true.

Think about it.

Think about a political speech, a religious passage or a theory. (conspiracies too). Do you know factually what was said, what the intention behind it actually is, or the context it was said in? Or are you taking excerpts or meaning from something or someone else and assigning truth to it because of how you feel about who said it?

Let’s thinks about a few popular sayings :

“The early bird gets the worm”

is actually-

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” This saying really means that while yes, the early bird is often successful, sometimes being the first isn’t the best ( as it alludes to the first mouse dying from a trap ). The aim is that we must learn from the mistakes of others, wait and observe before we act.

“Money is the root of all evil”

is actually – 

“The love of money is the root of all evil” from Timothy 6:10 KJV. This is pretty self explanatory.

“Great minds think alike”

is actually –

“Great minds think alike, though fools seldom differ.” Again, self explanatory.

We can even extend this into our own actions too, like our internet searches.

Say you are hungry, and want to find the closest or best Jamaican restaurant near you. You type that into your search engine, and up pops a list of places.
What do you do? Well, either we trust the information that pops up, and click on one of the first ones we see or we do our own research, read the reviews and then make a decision.

Of course, the latter is usually the better thing to do, but if we trust the search engine, do we still do it? What if we are pressed for time? Do we always know that when we search something online, the first few items that pop up are sponsored posts? Do we remember that businesses can pay a search engine to have the top spot, to show up first on your search page?

What about the concept of catfishing? Yes, it is an exaggerated example, but it has the same undertones. People will sit and wonder how someone could send a stranger thousands of dollars, but the reality is that the person being catfished had developed trust and a relationship that they chose to not to challenge. The Catfish-ee, took the scammer, or the meaning of their relationship, out of context.

Look – information can always be skewed to have us believe, or not believe, an idea. Especially if that sender of information stands to profit. ( like in advertisements.) The onus is on us, as intelligent, free-thinking, independent individuals, to question and do research. If we fail to do so, and we accept plainly what is told to us, we cannot then blame the systems we listen to, or the people in it, for how we then interact with it.

This is not to say that someone would then, by that understanding, deserve to suffer poor consequences. This is also not to say that everyone is able or has the opportunity to do research and protect themselves from misinformation. This is just to say that once we are able, we owe it to ourselves to find the answers. Not only is this for our own development, but doing this helps us to rid ourselves of anger or hatred we may place on ideas or on people by quick assumptions. Remember that we can very easily form biases by not truly trying to understand information and where it comes from.

We have to use the information that we get, and place it in its correct context. In world where information is readily available and typically accessible, we owe it to ourselves, on both an intellectual and emotional level, to try and build a belief system that is and feels true to ourselves. This will help us navigate the world with a little more kindness and a lot more grace for others and most importantly ourselves.

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Hey my graceful reader ! Is there anything you have taken out of context? What other sayings do you know that are actually different to how we say it? Leave a comment below if you want to share!