Healthy Spaces

  Summertime in Hong Kong has 100,000 eighteen-year-olds on edge as they wait for their standardized test scores. Entry to top programs will hinge on these scores. Dreams of a career in medicine, law, or engineering are derailed by scores below the cutoff.   Anxiety reigns for now.   Disappointment comes later.   Des pair can be optional with the proper mindset.   I think every test taker needs a dog or someone equally qualified to wag their tail and tell them the truth.   “You matter”.   Worth is not earned by accomplishments.   Thinking of test scores as gateways to prestigious admissions, placements, and accolades divert our attention from the truth: not everything that matters is on the test.     Robert Frost says the mob can “carry praise and blame too far”. [1] This tendency comes from a false belief that human worth is a discoverable fact about a person that can be measured with a scale.   In fact, human worth is cre...

    “If you have come here to help me you are wasting our time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. “   Quote by Lilla Watson   Good intentions have led to lives of service for educators, nurses, doctors, and caregivers. Yet obstacles can lead to wrecks and wastage on the pathway between having a good intention and making a difference for someone else.  This quote says the pitfall lies in the need for liberation. What does Watson mean by liberation?   Liberation from what?  I think the answer starts with the genesis of the good intention to help.   Those who help can be motivated by ego. Hunger for social approval signals a deeper need for connection to others.   Yet the act of helping creates a rift between the helper and the one who is helped. Helping can be an act of “othering” dividing a helper from someone in need. Helpers need liberation from the egos t...