Conventional Wisdom

When I was in middle school, my parents would bring boxes of glucose/dextrose as presents for my boarding school life. The conventional wisdom was that glucose would give me energy. Today, you're advised to opt for vegetables, carrots, brown rice, bran cereals in order to keep your glycemic index steady and not have insulin spikes.

I'm pretty sure I was bottle-fed, so was my brother. Now the CW says that breast is best, not even water for first six months. When I was living in the US, you had to be a home owner, and people would look down upon renters. Now renting is not only hip, it's considered smart because of the money you save.

Take in career choices. At some point, it was fashionable to become doctors and engineers. Then the MBAs took over, then IT people, somewhat economists. Even the qualifications have their own fad: if you're in Bangladesh, you'd have seen the masses of MCSEs, then MBAs, now PMPs, and so on.


So, basically, it's pointless to assume that you're qualified to give advice. My advice? Don't give advice. Seriously!

I've found myself on the giving and receiving end of it recently, and in both cases, it was unpleasant. I volunteered to counsel someone about relationships, and found out after a long pause that the person wasn't ready to listen to what I said, and became disengaged and defensive.

Similarly, I had a work meeting last week where someone was giving me suggestions about a program I'm planning, and suddenly I noticed that I was flushed red, fuming about the chutzpah of that person, and not really paying attention to what was being said. Needless to say, I left the meeting, shrugged off what was being said, and

Is it possible that in this world, we can walk around exchanging pleasantries, and expressing concern and gratitude, and not really interfere and intrude. If people let us in, we act grateful for the opportunity, and speak only when spoken to.

Now here's a conventional wisdom which might take some time to fade off. Or so I think.