TED Community » Will Peterson

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Ideas, Film, Human Independence, Using Human Capabilities

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• A comment on Talk: Alberto Cairo: There are no scraps of men

  Jan 7 2012: No, dignity cannot wait for better times. It has to be available here and now. I think of the people I work with who are in tremendous pain - I cannot imagine the difficulty of Mr. Cairo's people. I have to find a way of giving my colleagues THEIR needed dignity!

• A reply on Conversation: When, How and Why have your most strongly held views changed?

  Apr 24 2011: I have changed many times during my lifetime:
  
  I grew up a republican in a heavily democratic Northeast Mpls.
  Now I am a registered democrat in a conservative/republican enclave (Colo. Spgs, CO)
  
  I learned a great deal at "the U" and became much less conservative while in Education, Sociology, and History. I also ran Freshman Camps - I was hauled kicking and screaming toward listening to anthers' story
  
  After school (there no teaching positions available) I changed into a technician- type in printing,but kept READING - That was a constant.
  
  By this time I was much more liberal than my Dad could stand.
  
  I traveled to Europe and changed more!
  
  I became a solid and steady citizen raising two (wonderful) children. Now I'm getting over that.
  
  The fact is that I altered my life at many junctions along the way. School, College, Graduate school, work, children all changed what I thought and did but... The attitude inside never DID really alter.
  
  SO, I became more liberal working with conservatives as well as more conservative among liberals.
  
  I'll finish later.
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  A comment on Conversation: What is the evolutionary benefit conferred by religion?

  Apr 21 2011: I think it (religion) may have helped the small hunter/gatherer groups in our earlier days. Later it has become a habit and a social excuse for others to separate groups. Belief that a 'being' created us and is acting as a "middle-manager" for our daily lives is a bit of a concern to me - mostly because we work so hard to make certain our lives go on as need be. Throwing our hands up to the sky and asking for the strength to go on really does seem misplaced.
  
  To answer your question: IT DOESN'T GIVE ANY BENEFIT ANY LONGER! The so-called holy books we use. (The BIBLE, The Koran) are all old bronze age texts. We've lost large parts of the Bible and priests and monks decided which books should or shouldn't be included in the Bible. How can they be divinely inspired if some guy decided whether they fit or not? Frankly, it's embarrassing that any of our modern societies give them any credence at all.

• A comment on Conversation: Stop punishing kids in primary schools for being wrong.

  Apr 21 2011: I actually studied 'Education' in college. We did not receive good coursework! I left that 'trade' for one that could provide a position for me but have worried about the system ever since. At the time A.S. Neill and Summerhill school in Britain were the guiding light. The students pushed themselves. Once a manager called Neill to ask him him why in earth he should hire one of Neill's students. Neill merely said that the boy had learned to solve any problem or task given him. Months later, the same manager called back asking Neill to tell him of any other young boys he could send his way - because the boy had proven to be such a wonderful employee.
  
  In my student teaching, I found such dis-affection for school by the 7th through 12th graders! It seemed the same when my children went to public school - luckily they had good schools and teachers backing them up - as well as coaches - the cross-country coach started with a meagre team of 10 to 12 and built it up to over 100. Besides being the the Physics teacher, he became one of the anchors of student life. Anyway, students DID NOT want to be in school in my time, and the love for information needs to be cultivated.

• A comment on Conversation: So what do I do with this?

  Apr 21 2011: I was talking with a friend some time ago. I was certain of my position on some matter - but he counciled me by saying, "perhaps you should try to listen to ALL of their story". Now I can put his idea and this one to use.
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  A comment on Conversation: So what do I do with this?

  Apr 21 2011: I agree, I wonder just what I should do next. First of all I need to remember all the 'chinese park bench signs' I have faced. I certainly forget them as fast as possible, in my family there is a premium for being RIGHT! An important memory of a French film - a man acts throughout the entire 90- 120 minutes as if he is unquestionably correct. Near the end, he finds he has been largely wrong about most things - he really is the pompous fool others have made him out to be. His response is to lose all bodily control - he just falls over from the devistatation. I think I'd rather own up to my own mistakes before they are thrust on me!
  
  Now, back to what to do. I think I have to begin a new look at humility - that will be tough because I've spent my adult life proving my correctness. I've admired and praised those I thought were that way too. Maybe they were just playing by a set of invisible rules! There are so many things I would want to keep, and yet so many I must give up!
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  A comment on Conversation: Are we just slaves in a labelled world?

  Apr 12 2011: Well, I could do little but try to say SOMETHING. The attempt to be perfect, more than you are, or great for SOMEONE else is so painful and self-defeating. Still, I have gone on with it (I go on with it) because I've always been the good kid. Now, I wonder what sense I am missing like Ms Casey that keeps me from doing 'the right thing'. Sense meaning one of those I have come to expect. It's weird to want to admit weaknesses but never to be able to come right out with it.
  
  In my twenties I recall being asked by a VERY sharp friend: "What do you want to do?". I ended up doing the best I could, never admitting any of the damage that had been left by growing up in a home where you DIDN'T admit
  anything.
  
  But, what is important? I valued that sharp friend very much, BUT, I still went off and left - did things they couldn't understand.
  
  I wonder what labels are used by others to describe me. I can come up with a few, but I now truly wonder how I am seen. And here will be my final take on this: the sense I am missing is what others care - and I don't care in the least. I just need to determine what I can use as an Asian elephant to make the lack of that one sense worthwhile.
  
  Again, thanks to Ms Casey and her friend saying "just be you" - that's what I take away from this.

• A reply on Talk: Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

  Apr 8 2011: When I have had difficult medical problems, I have been helped or aided. I've had people (Nurses, Doctors, patient relatives and coworkers) helping. Of course I've run I to those who are less than helpful! My health is very good but it's because of that cardiologist in 1997 who downloaded important information for me! Others have helped in their own way, and because of this I can be very alive today. When Eberling and his cohorts put this mans life back together for him, they were acting out of joy and compassion. Now, someone (many more probably) will have their lives improved again. Imagine, breaking out after years of being stranded inside ones mind! I'm fortunate not to have experienced that, but maybe their is someone to care about.

• A reply on Talk: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Want to help Africa? Do business here

  Mar 27 2011: My feeling is women are tied to families and homes and their care for them. Certainly. men have to be cared for but women worldwide have been mistreated horribly. They deserve better. I hope 'the Girl Effect' will help to create a safer bastion for the women AND the people of the world.

• A reply on Talk: Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

  Mar 26 2011: Watching this kept making me feel worse and then better. I admit, I had to wipe the tears from my face. All of the ads are stimulating, but this makes me want to yell. I'll be looking at that site now.