I had to have a conversation with my nephew last night on the way to the movie (Batman vs Superman, I wrote a review if you want to read it check out Binge-TV.blogspot.com).
The conversation was about reputation.
As you know, nightly I mix up a concoction I call my "Elixir of Ease" it helps me combat the inflammation and pain I would normally feel in my hands during the day. Well, last night he drank from that elixir. He didn't drink it all mind you, but he drank enough of it that was noticeable. Of course, it wasn't the end of the world, but I was mad. I almost poured the rest down his throat when he was sleeping. But, of course, less asshole heads prevailed.
He's been staying with me for five days by this point. And during these five days I had a task for him to do. His task was to organize my Magic the Gathering cards alphabetically and by type of spell. If you know MtG you'd know what I was talking about. If not, no worries, he had a job organizing something.
For the better part of 5 days he worked on this and yet, when I got home in preparation to go to the movie he still wasn't done. *sigh* I'll admit, I wasn't the best worker when I was 13, but damned if I wouldn't have been tickled pink to do something like this. The boy is also a fan of MtG so I thought this was something he would want to dive right into. Anyway, I made him finish the rest right in front of me while I fixed some of the misorderings myself and we went to the movie.
On the drive there I let him in on a secret that many people seem to miss out on in life. You only have your reputation. You can lose everything else in your life, but your reputation lives on. When you do something that disrespects someone, your reputation with them falters. In typical 13 year old fashion when I asked him why he drank the Elixir he said, "I really do not know what was going through my head." *sigh* we need to get this boy some mindfulness training.
When you ask to do something and someone tells you no, you do not do it. Full stop. Continuing to do the thing they told you not to amounts to disrespect for that person. We have had numerous conversations about consent and I tied the respect factor into consent.
He has a long way to go. I think having something about mindfulness so he can read it over again and again and again might be helpful for him. Hopefully he can snap out of the stupid that is clouding his judgment.
*Note* Originally posted on the now defunct AzrielJohnsonAuthor.blogspot.com 03/30/16
Azriel Johnson is an inkspatter analyst and a serial writer by night. He runs a small, not money losing publishing press and a weekly open mic with monthly features called Writing Knights Press and Writing Knights: Stark.
The conversation was about reputation.
As you know, nightly I mix up a concoction I call my "Elixir of Ease" it helps me combat the inflammation and pain I would normally feel in my hands during the day. Well, last night he drank from that elixir. He didn't drink it all mind you, but he drank enough of it that was noticeable. Of course, it wasn't the end of the world, but I was mad. I almost poured the rest down his throat when he was sleeping. But, of course, less asshole heads prevailed.
He's been staying with me for five days by this point. And during these five days I had a task for him to do. His task was to organize my Magic the Gathering cards alphabetically and by type of spell. If you know MtG you'd know what I was talking about. If not, no worries, he had a job organizing something.
For the better part of 5 days he worked on this and yet, when I got home in preparation to go to the movie he still wasn't done. *sigh* I'll admit, I wasn't the best worker when I was 13, but damned if I wouldn't have been tickled pink to do something like this. The boy is also a fan of MtG so I thought this was something he would want to dive right into. Anyway, I made him finish the rest right in front of me while I fixed some of the misorderings myself and we went to the movie.
On the drive there I let him in on a secret that many people seem to miss out on in life. You only have your reputation. You can lose everything else in your life, but your reputation lives on. When you do something that disrespects someone, your reputation with them falters. In typical 13 year old fashion when I asked him why he drank the Elixir he said, "I really do not know what was going through my head." *sigh* we need to get this boy some mindfulness training.
When you ask to do something and someone tells you no, you do not do it. Full stop. Continuing to do the thing they told you not to amounts to disrespect for that person. We have had numerous conversations about consent and I tied the respect factor into consent.
He has a long way to go. I think having something about mindfulness so he can read it over again and again and again might be helpful for him. Hopefully he can snap out of the stupid that is clouding his judgment.
*Note* Originally posted on the now defunct AzrielJohnsonAuthor.blogspot.com 03/30/16
Azriel Johnson is an inkspatter analyst and a serial writer by night. He runs a small, not money losing publishing press and a weekly open mic with monthly features called Writing Knights Press and Writing Knights: Stark.
