"to a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish.". Perhaps not the best mental picture. But there are some simple. Truths that are not necessarily true. For those of us that spend our waking hours in high school, the world is high school. Parents understand quickly that a teenager has a centralist focus - the world revolves around me. And the world is whatever I am interested in at that moment.
If I am going to have a conversation with a worm in horseradish - interest thought - I need to be aware that horseradish is the worm's view. I can discount it if I wish but the worm is not going to. If I want to convey a message to the worm it matters a great deal to me what the worm is using for references and conclusions. If I want to discount the self-centered focus of a teen, communication is pointless. That does not suggest approval or acceptance of the idea. But if I want to talk to and hear from the teenager, I need to be prepared to find his/her world at that moment.
Gladwell put together a series of articles that address these issues of seeing it from the other side. In fact it is more than a visual side trip. It is an experience. How does it feel? Smell? Sound? What are the emotion surrounding the moment. There are numerous experiments that place witnesses in a location to observe the same accident. In trying to report the details of the accident each individual reports what she/he believes to be true. But research demonstrates that each individual brings to the report his/her own set of eperiences and assumptions. What the person reports is true for her/him. But as you know in some cases it is extremely difficult to understand how the descriptions can be that varied from one another.
What the Dog Saw is a wonderful summer read. It just might provide some insights in the mind of the teenager sharing your house. good luck. We are almost at the jump spot for another school year.
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