Monday, August 18, 2008

It wasn't me!

As human beings, we are programmed to accept praise and repel criticism. Nobody likes to be blamed for another person's mistakes, but that doesn't mean he will be bothered if he gets another person's praise.
This can be seen extensively in group activities, where most often, one person walks away with all the credit. This just happens to be one of the cruel realities of life.
History is filled with people who have never been given their due.

Chinese Sailors were the first ones to discover the Americas, and Australia, but history favors the colonists and pronounces Christopher Columbus as the discoverer of America. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1421:_The_Year_China_Discovered_the_World)

Calculus has been explained in Indian texts dated back to 1500's long before a certain Isaac
Newton was even born.(http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/08/14/calculus070814.html)

Antony Meucci was the one who invented the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell only patented it.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone)

Some of the above stories could be dismissed as urban legends but there's no denying the fact that not everyone gets rewarded for their work.

The emotions of denial

Stage 1-Something's fishy
No fingers are pointed yet, only the problem is examined and eyebrows are raised.

Stage 2- Why would somebody do it?
Everyone loves playing detective! Honestly speaking, one good crime drama series, is all it takes for someone to think their good enough to be the next Sherlock Holmes.

Stage 3-Whodunnit?
Now things start to get a little complicated. A lot of fingers are raised, and suspicious activities are followed all the more closely. Why the hell are you sweating so much?

Stage 4- It wasn't me
With or without evidence, someone is blamed for all the happenings, and his most likely reply would be...It wasn't me.

2 comments:

Ash said...

Copying from some sources and blaming others may be an easier thing to do rather than introspecting why that smart kid in your group got all the praise and those who hide their faces behind a smile deserve better than this.

Aj said...

Well written and thanks for sharing this information, Wolf Counsellor

We all learn through references, teachers and guides.

It is not copied, he has referred a source, and honesty should be appreciated.

Rightly said - If we need to be proud for our appraisals we also need to take criticism gracefully.

We have always been, even now, taught in schools that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, but named after Amerigo Vespucci.

Maybe we are still following the British Education System.

It is probably, true that in any society – The Education System teaches only what is supposed to be taught. What is the reality is what we have to find.

We have to understand that Education is our Right and not a Privilege.

Are we going to change our text books? Are our children being provided with the right information? Is Media giving the right Information? This is a big Question? However we have Educationists to look into it so long as they don’t understand that Education is a Right, not a Business.

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