Conversations in the Car: Persuasion is Better than Force

This week, while we were driving to school, my second son and I were talking about how hot the sun was. For no real reason, a short film I remembered watching as a Canadian child in the 1970's came to mind and I told him the story of the north wind and the sun arguing about who was stronger, and how the lesson I learned has always stayed with me- "persuasion is better than force".

It got me to thinking about how that truth can be applied across the board, in almost every aspect of life. You can't force change, can you? Certainly not in relationships with people; they are who they are, and any change of substance has to come from within them, not from the force of threat or ultimatums. It applies to families, feeding young children, or even making changes to a diet as a whole for your family- it can't be forced. It has to be done slowly, gradually, in tiny incremental steps in order to adjust taste buds and expectations and to become, in time, "normal". It applies to the division of labour in a household, the roles and responsibilities we play in our families, communities, churches, and jobs. You can't force change. And more often than not, when you try to force things, there are hard feelings on both sides of the fence. Try to remember this fable the next time you're faced with using force or gentle persuasion...

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Completely unrelated, I also think about the film we used to watch about log drivers. Do you remember that one? It's so random how some things stick in  your mind and others are just gone.


Do you remember either of these films?


Enjoy the rest of your week, friends!
Stacy 

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