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Archive Number 2504 | ||
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Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 11:55:24 -0600
----- Original Message ----- From: "Lorna Czarnota" > I see choice as being something different from judgment. We can pass > judgment on a choice and choose to judge, so they can't be the same thing. Lorna and All, Semantics and defining are an important aspects of any discussion. So to try to clarify I offer the following. Our choices are based on what we value (what we find important and meaningful) and don't value. Even how we go about making our choices is based on what we value. Judgment is the process of making a choice or in other words making a decision which value to use. We also make a judgment when we decide or choose the subsequent behavior that projects out of our values. So when you pass on one judgment "A" you are merely making the judgment to pass on judgment "A." Now what is important about this is as storytellers we may make the judgment that we will value the process of the listener to come to their own understanding but what we need to realize is that the story we share is not value free nor without us passing judgment. We decided based on many different values including artistic that the story is a worthwhile story to share. As a storyteller I need to be aware that I am not entirely being neutral nor not making a value judgment when I choose to tell a story. Stories by their very nature are valued ridden and bring a certain perspective about the world or what we can call "judgment" about the world. As in the case of Laura's story. The story assumes that there is a value of mother and father or else there wouldn't be any dilemma making it necessary for the boy to choose or for the community to choose --if it is used within a community setting. The teller may not value one choice over the other of who should die but the teller does value the process of decision making and has made the judgment to do it with this story. In other words there is no such thing as a story that is not told nor based on judgments and values. So as tellers we need to look at what we are telling and this is where I think I agree with Bobby the stories we tell do make a difference and they all teach values. And I add even when we think we are not making a judgment we are making judgments continually about what we think people should hear and not hear. This is why I sense in our selection of a story we need to not only ask will this help me to attain the goal of telling the story but what values are contained within the story as a whole. A case in point recently I saw a movie in which the main character is a likeable hard working man who deals in diamonds. His company screws him and lays him off when he becomes ill. On the last trip as he trains in his new person he is robbed. The insurance company pays off and the company fires him. We eventually find out he is living happily in Mexico and that he had always had a fake set of diamonds which the thief's actually got and he cashed in the real diamonds. At the end we feel good that everything worked out for this guy and justice is served. It was a good story, well done, and enjoyable but what values did it teach along the way? That the "means" to an "end" don't matter? I am interested in what others think and hope that this is not about moral superiority as in judging someone inferior but trying to understand how our values affect our choices of stories and what values we are actually teaching on the most subtle levels when we tell stories. thanks, Andre PS I also want to acknowledge that I forgot to remove the previous posts from my last email to the list. I also need to follow the list rules. Sorry. ------ http://USFamily.Net/info - Unlimited Internet - From $8.99/mo! ------ | ||