Journal Seven by Chris M. Walters

Be A Positive Influence (nikknakk82)

 

Words. Their Lasting Influence.

As kids, we all heard the rhyme, "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me." As adults, we know this not to be true. The truth is, words build us or break us. They hold so much power that their absence can carry more power than their presence. With that understanding, how does using words as encouragement (positive influence) or discouragement (negative influence) affect a child's future?

To better understand, let us look at our own life experiences in three distinct scenarios. In our first scenario, think about a moment when someone's words had a positive influence on you. What made that interaction have a lasting impact? Is it because of who said it or what was said? To further understand, we can ask ourselves a few focused questions. How old were you? How old was the other person? What was the relationship? Was it parent-to-child, teacher-to-student, coach-to-athlete, friend-to-friend, or stranger-to-stranger? Ask the same questions as we move on and look at the other two scenarios. The next scenario is, think of a moment when someone's words had a negative influence. While the last scenario is, think about a moment when the absence of words had a positive influence or negative influence?

We can find similar experiences of influence in other people's lives pulled from interviews found in the book Callings by Dave Isay. It is a book of short stories where individuals speak with someone close to them to learn about how they found their passion career. We will briefly look at two examples that demonstrate words as a positive influence in a teacher-to-student relationship.

In eighth grade, Lee Buono was dissecting a frog when his teacher, Mr. Siedlecki, noticed he had a talent for using the scalpel. Mr. Siedlecki wanted to make sure that Lee was aware of this great gift he held. Using words as encouragement, Mr. Siedlecki expressed to his student, "Lee, you could probably be a neurosurgeon. You're that good." These words had such a significant influence on Lee that he later became a neurosurgeon. Possibly even more telling of the power of words, Lee acknowledges how significant the positive influence was by calling his former junior high teacher to thank him for his encouraging words (Buno and Siedlecki 180).

Between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, Jerry Lawson's teacher sat him next to a poster of George Washington Carver and said, "You can be this great!" These five words that created a sentence expressed as encouragement might seem insignificant to many. However, they impacted Jerry enough to include his teacher's positive influence in the stories he told to his children. Furthermore, as his children tell of their father's legacy, much is contributed to that one moment when a teacher chose to give encouraging words to a student. When old enough, Jerry left the rough neighborhood of queens to chase his dream in Palo Alto, soon becoming a significant contributor to a company that forged the video game industry (Lawson and Teacher 228).

In conclusion, we see in examples of our own lives and that of Lee Buono, the neurosurgeon, and Jerry Lawson, the video game inventor, how positive influence has significant influence. In contrast, we can theorize how negative influence could have stifled Lee and Jerry's mental, emotional, and intellectual development—ultimately hurting their future success. We can draw on our personal experience of negative influence to support or disprove the negative influence theory. What is more challenging to understand is, would Lee and Jerry have reached their success without the encouragement (positive influence) from their teacher?

Share your opinion in the comments below.

Work cited:

@nikknakk82. “Sorround Yourself With Positve Thoughts.” Pinterest, n.d., pinterest.com/pin/213991419764134326/. Accessed 10 April 2021.