Perspectives

My friend Ana posted on Facebook the following words of wisdom:
What my parents taught me:
Religion - "You better pray that comes out of the carpet"
Logic - "Because I said so, that's why"
Irony - "Keep crying and I'll give you something to cry about"
Wisdom - "When you get to my age you'll understand"
Justice - "One day you'll have kids, I hope they turn out just like you!!"

Which inspired from me the following response:
Some 'H' words I'm learning from my kid
Hindsight has 20/20 vision but I don't - where the hell are my glasses Robyn?
Housework - tears don't mop up spilt milk ... usually Mum does
Hubris - brought into check when the kid introduces you to strangers by saying "Have a look at Mummy's dead tooth!"
Humility - those words "I love you mum" and knowing she means it
Humour - When she learnt to count to 10, counting to 3 didn't cut it any more.

There’s another I didn’t include (because I didn’t think of it at the time) and that’s ‘helplessness: when my daughter refused to choose between the two options I presented to her; a technique that had been most successful for most of her life to date because it didn’t occur to her previously that there could be more than two’.

But it’s all perspective isn’t it! I find perspective is one of the things that clouds my mind significantly. I try to see all angles on all things, which I guess is counterproductive to whatever it is I’m trying to achieve.

For example, I read this today on TV Doctors (sorry, the link doesn't work ... it's over here
http://www.news.com.au/national/its-no-mcdream-job-interns-watching-too-many-soaps-doctors-say/story-e6frfkvr-1226114522819
about how some researchers are concerned that TV shows about doctors are sending the wrong messages to medical interns. Examples of concern from a researcher included the inappropriate relationships in Grey's Anatomy or the unethical behaviour in House. (I do rather love Hugh Laurie but I think Becker made a better grumpy doctor)
Another crusty interviewee suggested role models are more likely to be found in the people they meet on the job – although I’m inclined to think this is more likely than the former. What the researchers don’t seem to take into account is that the modern masses have a far greater ability than say 50 years ago to draw succinct lines between fact and fiction.

My point is that when I watch TV I don’t tend to give in to the narrative. My mind clicks over all the time analysing the dialogue, the action and the likelihood that this would actually happen. It does tend to spoil the experience somewhat with most shows because I simply cannot ‘suspend disbelief’.

Suspending disbelief is something I always aim for in my writing even when the subject matter may give rise within some of my readers to cynicism. The subject matter, i.e. the presence of ghosts and bizarre events, may be why the majority of my family does not read my fiction – a sadness for me, I feel. They do tend to have the scientific approach to life rather than the creative and mystical.

Yet I also embroider my stories with real events, things I have actually witnessed or have encountered in my ‘adventures’ as a journalist working on country publications. There is a wealth of stories there!

How does one effectively suspend disbelief? How do we remove the debris of multiple perspectives?

And back to the original question … how do I exert influence over a child who will no longer choose from the options I present?

Ah, the learning curves of life.