A good parent is always looking out for their children’s well being. Make sure they keep warm in cold weather. Make sure they are keep their eyes open in the wake of danger. Cheering them on from the sidelines, parents are hoping for the best for their children.
The modern encouragement offered in the form of psychological affirmations is not new. Looking at Kirkegard and the diaries of Marcus Aurelius, we see the theme of stoicism. How might the cultural phenomena have established itself in communities and become engrained in the texts we associate with the early roman empire? Schools, government, and mothers.
“Wear your coat”, “look both ways before you cross the street”, and “don’t get eaten by a wolf”. For the time period, the advice was different, and looking centuries back would show us how our ideas are nothing new.
Market material uses the pop-psychological awareness that people do not feel comfortable with affirming their ideas as facts. The posters and billboards that reverberate the messages of marketing agencies use their awareness against their targets. “I love (generic-brand-here)”. People feel uncomfortable allowing themselves certainty, that the external world takes advantage.
How did we get to where we are today? Watching a dramatic reenactment of an ancient civilization, we see the heroic gladiators and samara. This was not the case for the majority. How did the real people of these times represent themselves? Who were the people who did affirm the stoic points of view that we imagine?
The mothers of course. The schools and churches were the vessels to communicate the message. The mothers were the ones who reminded and engrained the behavior. Without a double, this form of reaffirmation appears in our present day parenting. We currently know how to encourage another person. Tell them what they are good at. Reassume them that their shortfalls are actually their strengths. Encourage them to try beyond their own expectations of themselves.
All these behaviors are our current Givens. The Givens of the 19th, 18th, 13th centuries were surely different.
