I talked to my honey the other day about how tough it will
sometimes be to support people (students/kids/coworkers/take your pick) who are
engaged in behaviors that I disagree with or that are of a significantly
different mindset than I am. Not only
support, but never to judge and always to be open to them. He was really sweet about what I was saying—said
that I really have picked the perfect job or career for my personality. I don’t know for sure if he meant that as a
compliment or not. He is totally okay
with being opposed to certain lifestyles and I am admitting that I will have to
embrace even those that he’s opposed to.
I think he meant it as a compliment.
Maybe he just didn’t think about all of the implications of it. It is going to be a major mental battle with
me sometimes and he may not even know that he’s involved in it! I guess he’s right though. I don’t have much judgment in me. I know that people are all different and I’m
good with that. It’s what makes life
interesting.
So along those lines, I was reading about “isms”. Racism and sexism are probably two that
immediately come to mind for a lot of people, but it is a much larger list than
I ever thought of prior to this reading.
Lemme add to that list for you. “Ableism,
ageism, classism, familyism, genderism, heterosexism, immigrationism,
linguicism, racism, religionism, and sexism” (ASCA, as cited in Stone, 2013). Oh my goodness is that a lot that I’ve never
even considered let alone identified. My
spellchecker is only recognizing five of those eleven. Great sign, yes? Linguicism.
What does that even mean? I’ve
been doing a lot of self-education about random subjects like pro-ana and
thinspo, eating disorders not otherwise specified (even that has a trendy
acronym--EDNOS), self-mutilation in all its many forms, and various other
things plaguing today’s children at a heart-breaking rate. I need to know this information so as not to
be blind-sided by it when a student approaches me with his or her latest issue,
but I sometimes wonder if any of us can actually catch all of these things with
enough warning to be aware of them before they become a habit or lifestyle for
a child. Better to see the warning signs
when these concerns are simple thoughts instead of full-blown habits. If only it were that easy.
I am so thankful that S believes in me the way he does. I don’t know how I would do it when I see a
reading assignment that could keep a normal person occupied for three months
and I need to do it in a week if I wasn’t so sure of… well, of his confidence
in me. Mine falters a lot. And ya know what? That’s another thing that I really want to
prevent. I just read somewhere that
counselors should avoid flattery but I think that is quite important when
dealing with young kiddos. They so need
the adults in their lives to believe in them.
We need to prove to them that they can conquer anything they want
to. It’s heart-breaking how many people
don’t do that.
By the way, the author I listed in this, Carolyn Stone? I want to meet her one day. Not only is she the author or co-author of
quite the handful of books and articles I’m reading, she also has cited herself
in her own works. I just think that’s
cool. How awesome would it be to be so
awesome that you can cite yourself in your own works? I admire her.
Not only that, she actually seems amazingly aware, intelligent, and is
an excellent communicator. I dig
that. And one of my goals will be to at
least hear her speak, possibly to even meet her. Who knows what’ll happen???
Stone, C. (2013). ASCA
members weigh in on Ward vs. Wilbanks. Retrieved from http://www.ascaschoolcounselor.org/article_content.asp?article=1304
