About Rules

But we are back to this issue with time and communication. If we could give a child sufficient time to respond to questions we ask them, in their own way, instead of rushing them for a response, would they become better communicators. Mr Walsh taught me something of considerable importance that day (see blog Sunday 3^rd February), because he took the time to talk to me and, to ensure I heard what he had to say as well as understanding it. The many nuances of language, the gestures, tones, emotions form the complexity of communication. When a component is missing, it becomes more difficult, unless you are paying close attention. Watching a Mime as mentioned, you rely on the visual information and the emotion. This is one reason why they traditionally have a white face. This is to emphasise the indicators of expression. White face, red lips, outlined eyes in black and black eyebrows (well above the normal position). On the white canvas of the face a very slight movement of the eyes, mouth or eyebrows, creates a clear emotional response plainly visible to the viewer (even over a distance). A ‘viewer’ who takes the time to watch a mime, is seldom uninformed in what occurred, when they stop watching (Whether they admit they liked it or not. Generally they will not admit they liked it, but no doubt they will retell what they saw to their friends, and depending on their friends reaction, they will decide as to whether it was really funny, really sad, or really brilliant when they tell them).

Communicating with people close to you, can be difficult. Today it appears there is more confusion in the variety of communication methods available. There is constant misunderstanding in emails, text messages, and social media (sometimes to excessive lengths). Much of this is resolved in later face to face situations, but again highlights the need for visual assistance to understand the actual messages. There has been an enormous spike in bad behaviour between people using many of the social media options and also those misunderstandings which occur, using electronic media in the workplace. Even telephone calls do not cause as much distress, as you are able to ‘hear’ the emotion in the voice of the person you are talking to (Despite the fact the frequency of the voice you hear is limited by the phones receivers and transmission systems). Of course, there is still the ability to ‘pretend’ emotionally on the telephone when you speak with someone (until you hang up). Then there is the effect ‘Political Correctness (P.C.) has, and how that has destroyed many areas of communication. Today irrelevant of context (which to me is where P.C. should only be applied), people appear to jump on a single word in a communication if it is perceived as being racially or culturally insensitive, or offensive for reasons of sexism, occupational specifics, gender or sexual orientation. Or if it offends certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disabilities, or, has age-related contexts. P.C. generally ‘infers’ doing so excessively, but people today are very concerned over even the smallest phrase once (usually unnecessarily).

(Continued tomorrow)