Coddling

i’m pretty outspoken about my desires to not coddle people, because i feel it does more harm than good. i still experience coddling from time to time, so it seems like my message has not been heard, so i’d like to take the time to explain why i burned my kid gloves, instead of giving them to good will.

when someone does something they don’t know how to do well, and people compliment them for mediocre or worse results, you are telling them they’re doing a great job, and they don’t need to improve.

if someone’s performance is lacking, and the feedback you give them is sugar coated lies, you are not doing anything to help them better themselves. you are, in essence, saying ‘hey, i’m not an expert in this field, but you know, you’ve got some real talent, i bet the experts of the world would agree.’

the experts of the world, on the other hand, see nothing promising in your work, and most are too busy doing their thing, and being experts, to drop me a line to let me know my photography is crap, my perl code is shit, or my driving ability is over-rated.

i don’t have experts on speed dial, but i have you, my audience, my friends, my family. is my work truly perfect? is further practice truly worthless, is that what you’re saying? you think my work is so fantastic, but why don’t i have a job, why is my art not hanging in galleries, why are my scripts not being used by google?

because all my work is mediocre, so far. i know it, i’m not a moron. so stop telling me you think i’m judging myself too harshly. stop telling me my work is amazing when you know nothing of amazing work.

STOP CODDLING Me… nice, my keyboard won’t do a capital e… or r… curious. time to investigate.