MAC - Week 3 Peer Blog Reply 2

Original Post by Brian Thomas

What I’ve observed from the readings this week (especially from Chapter 6) is that many of Ben’s philosophies about putting others first and living your life in a positive way have been in the Bible for thousands of years. The problem is, most people (including me) have not been so good about reading these principles and applying them to our lives. I believe that if we all spent more time reading and applying THAT guidebook that we would be able to show much more love and genuine concern for each other.

That aside, I particularly liked the discussions in the book on opening up your thinking to possibilities and using the word “and” instead of “but” to describe our current situation. I think it’s this type of positive thinking that can really help make or break your day and your outlook on your current situation. I also liked the discussion of leading from any chair. I think this idea is especially important to share with a classroom of students that might have confidence issues (which, for most teens, is almost a given). To understand that your contributions are valued no matter what your role is, is a very important concept to get across to a class and I appreciated the authors insights and stories about this idea.

My Response

 Brian, how true we should all follow the best selling guide book of all times. Sometimes it is very difficult to try and do the right thing and not wallow in self pity yet we should always try to do what we believe is right not matter how difficult it may be. This fits right in with teachers in the classroom. It may be easier to do just enough for the children that fold their arms and fight not to learn anything, and that may be easy, but not right. Those are the children who should be worked with the most in trying to realize what the barrier is and the best and safest way to help them. I have found doing this can be very hard to do and even caused bumps and bruises but in the long run has a positive outcome. 

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