Sunday, April 18, 2010

Advice of the Unwarranted

     My father constantly tells me the same things in a broken record repetition as if I didn’t already know the garbage he’s recycling. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever logically understand.

     Here I am studying some hardcore topics of biology, and he remind me that I need to be careful with my laptop directly on my bed because the lack of ventilation could cause the fan to burn up.
     I get that he’s a father and he’s looking out for me, yet in my opinion my reasoning for why it was absolutely unnecessary outweighs why it could have been. Not only has he told me this same advice in mimicking context time and time before, but I’m fairly sure that anyone studying a subject as intricate as biology—especially using a laptop for all of their notes—can piece the not-so-jigsaw puzzle together of, “Hey, I better be careful with the laptop fan being placed directly on a blanket for long periods of time.”
     My point is that I know this. I do not know biology, so studying the subject is stressful and strenuous enough without distraction, criticism, or any other form of disturbance the world’s inhabitants like to offer me.
I feel like I’m hardly given a break by people that shouldn’t even be harassing me in the first place. They portray themselves in a way as if I’m doing is never good enough for the unwelcome opinions I don’t care to even hear.

     “You need a job.”
     “You need to read more.”
     “You need to study less.”
     “You need to hang out with friends more.”
     “You need to call more and email less.”
     “You need to remind me more often you care about me.”
     “You need to be careful with your laptop on the bed.”

     As I went through the list of suggestions, I realized I can fire back every single one of them justifiably at the person that shot me with an elaborate explanation.
     Perhaps if they bothered me less, they could work on themselves more with a result of unconcern for my life, plus maybe an actual understanding of why I do the things I do.
     If you question whether the “advice” above escaped from your lips, it likely did or it likely will. Taste your own advice before you try lodging it down my throat. It goes without saying that if you do nothing, you’ll never understand someone that does everything.

3 comments:

S. L. Boots said...

Hm. I need to read more, to study more, to find a job. That's something I've thought about consistently recently. I also need to write more. Having a desire to write means that this should be a priority.

Relationships are important depending on who they are with. If they were valuable, you'd dedicate your time to them. It's a matter of priorities and of value-judgements. This isn't a criticism of where you place your values. I place most people below my own interests.

My advice is to balance your life with things of a non-intellectual nature (I know, this seems hypocritical, doesn't it? But I wish to have you prevent reaching a burn-out.) You're probably already doing this, you seem smart enough at least.

Growth only happens in periods of rest from the use of "it." It being a variable on what you're using as I'm sure you guessed.

Dedication. I'm glad you found it. I'm struggling to re-attain it. I had in back in high school--not for school but my own study interests and then I went to college thinking it would be better, more challenging and it wasn't. A bit of a downer there. Maybe you should be giving advice to me. ha.

Unknown said...

Sometimes people don't think about what they say before it is said. And sometimes people say things because they just really want to make us aware of something we are not realizing at the moment. I myself am guilty of seeing things and speaking to the person about what i am seeing. Yes, sometimes this is an error in judgment, but it only because we, the ones observing, are trying to help. This is not to state that anyone is doing something wrong and knows it, but it is more out of caring for the other person. All of us are guilty on both sides sometimes, but it is only about caring for the other person. If your laptop does burn up, where will you get a new one and be lucky enough to pull out the notes! I do like people to point out things like that, because I know that when doing something like that I can get so into it that I don't notice. But we are all different, that is what makes your goal in life so interesting to you. Just don't take so much to heart, no one is doing it on purpose. This is just others helping others. It is human nature!

Alexis Voltaire said...

@ Shad B.: You always offer great advice, thank you once again, so much. I truly do keep a lot of what you say swirling around in the back of my mind in daily life. :)