MINDSET

Michael Yon has an interesting dispatch on how the "can-do" spirit needs to fostered in Iraq. Quite obviously, it is something we take for granted in our own lives as Americans.

Often, when my students discuss what is happening in Iraq, I use something my uncle said based on his experiences and observations from being in a country that was (at the time) just "freed" from Soviet rule. He said that the people didn't know what to do with themselves or how to think for themselves. For decades, they had been told what to do and how to think or face certain peril or hardship. Now imagine what it was like to live under Hussein and the idea of running anything larger than your own household.

I also ask the students, "What do you think most of the highly sheltered students will be like when they go away to college?"

Then they get it.

Learned helplessness can create two extemes when the "helpless" are expected to guide themselves:

1. Living life without any self-control/no boundaries.
2. Meltdown

Even in our own society, when we expect people who have relied on the government for sustenance for long periods of time to be productive members of society, many often fail because of the mindset. I see it in my own home. People forget (in worst-case scenarios, some don't even know) that even though there are things in life we cannot control, we can guide our lives, be productive, and create a thriving community & society.

Yon also has a couple of clips on YouTube. This one relates to the post I linked.