As I sat at my desk this morning and surveyed the Holly Daze clutter that I was surrounded by - greeting cards, Christmas letter, bubble wrap, recipe binder, recipe shoe box, magazine open to a cookie recipe, received Christmas cards, ink pens in differing colors, sales receipts dumped from wallet last night, and numerous scraps of paper - I was momentarily stuck in first gear trying to figure out just where in the world to start. I was about to begin making sense of nonsense when a scrap of paper caught my attention. On it, I had written,
You can't make me, but I can be persuaded.
Cynthia Tobias
As my mind is want to do, curiosity trumped common sense, and I went to Google, typed in Cynthia Tobias and discovered that she is (among other things) an educator and motivational speaker - both to educators and parents. She owns a business called Apple Street (Applied Learning Styles) and one of her seminars is entitled, "You Can't Make Me (But I Can Be Persuaded)" I do not know how long this scrap of paper has been buried among the detritus of my desk area or where I heard about her, but its appearance this morning seemed like a talisman (or maybe just another excuse not to deal with my messy desk!?).
As an aside, using the word detritus to describe my desk area seems appropriate. There are two main meanings of detritus, both seeming to be extraordinarily applicable since it all is beginning to resemble a compost pile.
a. disintegrated or eroded material (as in past civilizations)
b. accumulated material or debris
Tobias' seminar title really resonates with me. After working with adults and students for my entire life, and still working with both from time to time, I can say, without a doubt, that Tobias is on to something big here. My experience, both personal and professional, is that forcing another human to perform a task, make a statement, embrace a belief, or accept a rule at face value, is seldom, if not rarely, successful. I do not believe that this factoid of life is more applicable at one age than another, either. Even adults, with whom one might think reason could be effective (me included), are more apt to embrace persuasion over demand.
Ms. Tobias, I see that you have written books on this subject. I think I'll be buying myself an after-Christmas gift. After all, I could make myself clean up this clutter, but friendly persuasion on my part would work much better!
Coffee and chocolate could be a good start.....................
Ancora imparo
