Correctors in Your Life

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Once you get old enough, you'd be surrounded by "correctors" in your life---people watching your every word or move, ready to correct your wrong.

Some people watch you when you're right. And then they point out how right you are. There are not many of them because most people around you hate pointing out how right you are. They won't admit there's someone better than they are.

Well, some people may do so---appreciate what you're doing right---but primarily because it reflects what they've been doing all along. They like being proven right---and they themselves  prove it through you. In a sense, they praise themselves when they praise you. You're a conduit to their success.

I'm not against corrections. We all need to be corrected. Being a writer, I've been edited or corrected a lot of times, and I needed them. What I can't stand are people who aren't writers or editors but they like to correct your write-ups. Worse, you see how they have worse grammars than you have.

And I'm not just talking about writing here. You know what I mean? I'm talking about correctors in life.

Basically, there are two kinds of correctors in life---those who want to help you do things correctly and those who just want to prove you wrong each time. What the second type often wants is that you do things his way. Only his ways or views are correct, so you should follow him. That's the bottom line---the bottom of things as far as correctors are concerned.

If you watch closely, you'd see a lot of this type of correctors on Facebook. They know how social networks like FB are worldwide so they use this platform to prove to people how right and smart they are.

The goal of these correctors (let's call them badass correctors) is not really to help you but to:

1. Prove you wrong, as I've mentioned.
2. To show everyone how right he is.
3. To show everyone how wrong you are.

So a badass corrector delights in opportunities when a crowd is watching and he has something to correct you with. He won't do it privately (what sincere correctors would do) or do it in such a way as to spare you from public shame. He intends to humiliate you and show off his rightness.

A Legit Corrector

We all find ourselves in situations where we need to correct somebody. There are ways to correct people properly:

1, Always check your motive. Are you going to correct the guy because you want to help him or is it because you just don't approve of his ways of beliefs? Worse, you don't like the guy. I always check my motive. If it's biased or prejudicial, I'd skip doing the correction.

2. Make sure you have the right to correct. I correct people under me---my kids, disciples in faith, students, office subordinates and other people who work for me. I don't correct people who aren't related or close to me. People have the right to be wrong, especially those who want to be wrong.

3. Do it in private. Take him aside where no one else would hear you talk and gently tell him his fault. Well, there are also badass correctors who correct you in private, but they're intention is no to help you but to prove you wrong. He wants you to bow to his correctness.

And there are also legit correctors who correct you in public because they need to---you've gone way wrong about what you're doing. But they do it to a limited audience---among those who are concerned. There were occasions when Jesus rebuked his disciples in front of other disciples. But no doubt, his intention was not to humiliate but to help the one at fault and warn the others as well.

4. Do it out of love, never of bad ulterior motives like hatred, bias, self aggrandizement or vengeance.

Is Always Watching TV Really that Bad?

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Did you know that almost nothing in this world can really hurt you except yourself? Except for nuclear explosions, suicide bombings, stray bullets and things like that which you have no control of and which can really hurt you like it or not---there's practically almost nothing that can hurt or destroy you, not even if you always watched TV.

I've heard from folks who wanted to sound super spiritual and righteous that too much TV is bad for you. It's going to suck your whole person until you get consumed and swallowed up entirely. Until TV controls your whole life and your thoughts and perception.

Really?

Well, I tried to get to the bottom of things.

Technology is a very neutral thing. It's either bad or good, depending on how you use it---or how you let if affect you. It's you who decide how things are going to end up, not things---not technology. Not TV. Technology will always be here with us. It's stupid to try get rid of it entirely just so you can live holy or righteously. That's what the monks of the past did.

We'll always ride vehicles to get to places. Cars and trucks and buses and planes will always be here with us. You can't say too much vehicles is bad for us because they can dictate how we live our lives in the end. "We've become too influenced by our cars! Let's get rid of them!"

In fact, technology is a gift from God. God's gifts are meant to expedite our work or entertain us, not be rejected and thrown away. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in the middle of Eden for a purpose---probably to make the tree of life shine more. Paul once said that evil is there to make good shine more gloriously. The tree of knowledge was there. It's supposed to be there. You're not supposed to cut it, uproot it or get rid of it entirely. There was no instruction like that.

But the instruction was---don't eat it.

Adam and Eve saw the tree and its fruits everyday. At times they probably even slept or had picnic under its shade all day. And it was OK---as long as they didn't eat the fruit.

So what if you watched too much TV?

I don't watch TV a lot. I watch news or some late talk shows (even a movie) at night to catch up with the latest and also to fall asleep. I set the timer on our TV to 30 minutes and then lie down in bed. Often. I never get a chance to see the TV set turn off automatically because I immediately doze off before the 30 minutes are up.

I'm not a TV freak.

But others are. And often we scare them with monsters we create just to dissuade them from too much TV. And it's unfair. Many people don't realize that we can only get what we allow ourselves to get. You cannot buy a can of corned beef and then later wonder what it's doing in your shopping bag. TV cannot destroy you unless you let it. If you believe everything you see on TV and let it all influence and control you, then you destroy yourself. It's not TV doing it---it's you. TV is just a neutral object.

If you cut your hand with a knife, don't blame the knife.

The same with anything online. They say staying too long online can destroy you. Not really. If this is true, then staying offline for too long can also destroy you. Before the Net was discovered, a lot of folks had already gone crazy and been kept in institutions. A lot of families had been destroyed. A lot of lives wasted.

Just be critical and analytic. Don't believe everything you see or hear. Don't simply believe people. Even merely talking to people can destroy you if you mindlessly let everything readily sink into your heart and mind.

I always weigh everything that comes to me---ideas, concepts, people, organizations, advices, suggestions. And especially what religious people say (especially that). Believe me, these things are often more dangerous than watching TV all day.

I know a lot of readers---certified bookworms---who think they've become geniuses just because they read lots of books. But to many of them, books serve to disintegrate their world. Their world---their imagination---shrinks as they read more books. They can't comprehend life and truth. I frown to watch their wrecked lives, families and marriages. The same with so-called scholars---the more they learn the more their world diminishes. Learning doesn't free them---it imprisons.

You see, watching TV all day is safer compared to that!

Never blame things for the plight you're now in. It's all because you let things destroy you.