Do as I Say, Not as I Do
In
my youth, my parents and others always had a favorite saying when they
told me to do something and I responded with, “you don’t do it, why
should I.”
They would respond with,”Do as I say, not as I do.” And of course they would always be reprimanded by someone chastising them for not setting a good example. As I grew older , it seemed to me the one uttering this absurd statement was being hypercritical, thus I would often discount what they were saying and the lesson there-in contained.
I rationalized a person should practice what they preach before trying to impart their values on someone else.
It wasn’t until later in life I began to learn the real lesson behind this. As often happens in life lessons such as this, the answer comes in the wee hours of the morning when normal people are sleeping.
I realized suddenly that no one on the planet is perfect, we are all trying to form that rough ashlar we call life into a more perfect building block to thus fashion our life upon. No one can always live up to the high standards we all should place upon ourselves. We are a work of progress and continuously under construction. In our progression in life, as we continue on towards perfection, perfection as each of us sees it, we will continue to struggle, often times we take two steps forward and one backward, and many times it is one step forward and two backward.
This is as it should be, we need to remember ,even though it seems we are falling backward more than forward, our continuous direction is forward toward our goal of perfection. It is impossible to fall backwards. every action and reaction we take is a learning experience
There was nothing hypercritical intended when my parents and others made this statement.They knew exactly what they were saying. They realized no one can live life without doing things that would be better left undone, themselves included. Just because they did something stupid was no reason for their children or friends to do the same thing. We are supposed to learn from others mistakes, or I like to say, “Learning experiences.”
My mom always had another favorite expression, when I wanted to do something she didn’t think I should do, I would say,”But everyone else is doing it.”
She would respond,”If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you want to jump also.?” It’s really hard to respond to logic like that.
I publish regularly on Kindle, Follow me There.
They would respond with,”Do as I say, not as I do.” And of course they would always be reprimanded by someone chastising them for not setting a good example. As I grew older , it seemed to me the one uttering this absurd statement was being hypercritical, thus I would often discount what they were saying and the lesson there-in contained.
I rationalized a person should practice what they preach before trying to impart their values on someone else.
It wasn’t until later in life I began to learn the real lesson behind this. As often happens in life lessons such as this, the answer comes in the wee hours of the morning when normal people are sleeping.
I realized suddenly that no one on the planet is perfect, we are all trying to form that rough ashlar we call life into a more perfect building block to thus fashion our life upon. No one can always live up to the high standards we all should place upon ourselves. We are a work of progress and continuously under construction. In our progression in life, as we continue on towards perfection, perfection as each of us sees it, we will continue to struggle, often times we take two steps forward and one backward, and many times it is one step forward and two backward.
This is as it should be, we need to remember ,even though it seems we are falling backward more than forward, our continuous direction is forward toward our goal of perfection. It is impossible to fall backwards. every action and reaction we take is a learning experience
There was nothing hypercritical intended when my parents and others made this statement.They knew exactly what they were saying. They realized no one can live life without doing things that would be better left undone, themselves included. Just because they did something stupid was no reason for their children or friends to do the same thing. We are supposed to learn from others mistakes, or I like to say, “Learning experiences.”
My mom always had another favorite expression, when I wanted to do something she didn’t think I should do, I would say,”But everyone else is doing it.”
She would respond,”If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you want to jump also.?” It’s really hard to respond to logic like that.
I publish regularly on Kindle, Follow me There.
Posted by The Florida Hoosier at 2/22/2012 6:10 AM 
Categories: Common Sense
Tags: wisdom conservative values life
Categories: Common Sense
Tags: wisdom conservative values life
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