“The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile.”- Fred Rogers
The other day, my good friend Steve, from Melrose Scouting Podcasts posted a new video featuring Buttons in which Buttons recited the message from our Founder.
I watched it and while I was listening I closed my eyes and actually heard what was being said.
And of all of the words that were spoken, it was the message about living a happy life that really resonated with me.
It really is that simple.
And then if they are unhappy… why take it out on the rest of us?
Leaving the world a better place by making others happy is Scout like. A simple smile, a helping hand, a cheerful word.
I watched a documentary about Fred Rogers last weekend. You know Mr. Rogers. The underlying message was about Fred Rogers and his belief in passing on joy. That he would always try and leave a person happy. Something as simple as changing his philosophy regarding communicating with other people. I won’t detail the entire documentary, but I would like to share the simple communication technique that I learned.
It is simple. Instead of of talking TO someone.. ask to talk WITH them.
When you talk WITH someone, you complete the circle of communication. The Sender and Receiver are both involved in the message.
This makes the communication personal and as a result the message will be received better and both parties leave feeling better about what they talked about.
In leadership when we talk TO someone, we limit the communication to Sender/Receiver.
This limits the response for receiver leaving that person in a position of inferiority.
How does that make them feel? I would venture to guess not better than before the communication started.
So if our intent is to leave the world better… happier… we need to change our style of communication. Even in leadership we can leave those we lead better.. simply by communication.
So why are people so unhappy? What does all of this have to do with unhappy people?
I think that somewhere along the way, they were not communicated to effectively or they do not feel that they are being communicated to in a way that makes them feel worth.
My anonymous friend may or may not fit in that category. It sounds like he or she may not be in the best Scouting situation, and maybe that is due to a lack of communication. I don’t know, I can only guess. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, I am dealing with the same information that is limited due to the nature of time and space on the net.
I would just ask that we all do a better job communicating. Allowing comments opens up that communication so we can talk WITH one another instead of TO.
Help make the world a better place.. make it a happy place for our Scouts and each other.
Have a HAPPY Great Scouting Day!
