Condescension

I was watching the Manos: The Hands of Fate episode of MST3K earlier. The episode starts with a short, the second episode of Hired! It's a training film made in 1940 for Chevrolet to teach sales managers how to handle new salesmen. In the film, Mr. Warren, a sales manager for a major Chevrolet dealership, is complaining to his father about the poor quality of his new salesmen. The father reminds his son how green Warren was when he started as a salesman. Warren was flabbergasted at how little his new salesmen knew about the basics of sales that he knew, forgetting that he had had to have that information drilled into him bit by bit by his own boss.

It's fashionable for everyone to shake their heads at others' ignorance of wisdom they they understand as basic, forgetting that such wisdom had to be obtained either through hard experience or the patient instruction of someone wiser than they. Even I am guilty of this from time to time. I constantly have to remind myself that others may not have had the manner of experience that I have, which forced me to think carefully about my world view and how my attitudes shape my life and the lives of those around me. Now I am much more likely to teach rather than berate when I see someone acting in an ignorant manner. And when someone asks me a direct question, I answer directly and completely, patiently instructing in my hard-won wisdom. That's why I write this blog, in the hope that others will benefit from my experience.

Whenever you are tempted to shake your head at someone going down a wrong path, take time to correct them rather than simply allow them to suffer hard knocks. Think of the hard knocks you've taken in your life and imagine how much better off you would be had someone come along to keep you clear of them.