You can share your wisdom or insight with a friend or stranger--remembering that behavior is always a better example than a lecture.
Ryan Holiday
On my farm there are many, many wild turkeys. They are always talking. Well, talking might be an oversimplification, as the noises they emit are all over the sound scale.
Often, the turkey's chit chatting reminds me of a gaggle of humans chirping at each other. One feature about being an adult seems to be one's propensity to instruct others about what we know.
To be fair, if one is trying to be a responsible, virtuous-behaving adult, you are constantly having to instruct and take care of things, and as our brains adore patterns, it's quite easy to settle into a pattern of constant wisdom and insight begatting.
We humans also love to be noticed, valued, and adored, so what greater dopamine drip is there than being listened to when we bestow our great knowledge upon others?
Now, I might be straying a bit into snark territory here, but I have a feeling we have all done such things. I mean we are human after all, but I am often reminded of what one professor I had told me when he was talking about the effectiveness of Christ's ministry on Earth, he said, to paraphrase, The best way to witness is to slap a piece of duct tape over one's mouth.
We've all heard the admonition actions speak louder than words, but in our digital age, words slam against us like an pixilated tidal wave all the time. Everyone has a voice and that voice has been amplified to planet-encompassing status.
It's made for more than a lot of look at me posturing.
I mean, look at me right now, I am writing about the concept of the supremacy of example over lecture. The irony isn't lost on me.
That said, I do think that it's an important thing to discuss. I mean, when the turkeys really want to get something done, or correct an errant flock mate, they do it not by vocalizing, but through action.
Right now the world is in an especially inflamed tizzy, and I guess the point of this thought meander is I wonder how things would be or trajectories would change if people would start shutting up a bit and express some of our apparently endless and infinite wisdom through example.
Guess I better go give someone a cookie and a hug.😉
