Tag: Empathy

Posted on

Carrying Water In A Paper Sack

Recently, I was working with a doctoral student to help her create a challenging but meaningful thesis statement for her dissertation. We worked for several hours writing and rewriting the thesis statement to address the happy path of her arguments, while simultaneously providing a countervailing position to create a well-formed thesis statement.

After many hours and iterations of the thesis statement, the student decided she was no longer interested in pursuing the work in her dissertation. We expended many hours researching the topic, thinking about the various hypotheses, and we reviewed sources pro and con on the topic to try and arrive at a meaningful thesis statement.

I learned quite a bit about working with undecided students; however, I also discovered that unless someone is committed to their own work or craft, trying to help that person succeed is like “carrying water in a paper sack”.(C). The early signs clearly indicated the student was not committed to the subject she had chosen and she was simply going through the motions of an academic, while I was committed to her successful completion of her dissertation. The entire exercise turned out to be futile. 

I realized that it is not the best use of my time or resources to engage in any work that might require sustained mental, emotional, monetary, and/or time investments knowing that the commitments might not eventually bear fruit. I believe we must choose meaningful work, hold others accountable for their own success or failures, and we must not allow others to fail upwards while dragging us along. To do so would be like “carrying water in a paper sack”.

S. Brooks PhD

Carrying Water In A Paper Sack © 2024 by  Stanton M. Brooks is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 

Posted on

January 6, 2020 a reality check on American Democracy

Choose The Truth

Boxing is not a sport for people with weak stomachs.

I awoke this morning feeling like I was punched in the stomach without prior notice. Ever had that experience? In my lifetime, I’ve been punched in the gut several times, literally and figuratively. What I learned from each experience, is that no trauma is exactly like the previous one.

As a former boxer, I received several gut punches in a single round. Each punch was different. Some I overcame quickly, others I had to work through. Jan 6, 2021 was by far one of my hardest gut punches. This morning, as I reflected on the implications of what success of the insurrectionists might have meant to our democracy and our future way of life, I’m feeling a stomach pain similar to when I lost my daughter due to a tragic car accident.

I don’t intend to be melodramatic, but as a black man living in America with a clear understanding of the underlying rationale for the insurrection, it not only makes my stomach ache, it makes my entire being feel as though I went 15 rounds with Mike Tyson.

I am not sure how we as a society would have been governed when I considered that every level of government, law enforcement, the Congress, and 77+ million citizens thought that overthrowing democracy in America was a great and rational idea. I will not complete my thoughts in this post; however, I would ask that you critically think about what our future state would have been, if the insurrectionists had accomplished their objective.

I would not have entered a boxing ring with Mike unless I felt I was equally strong and equally prepared. How does a disenfranchised citizen prepare to go 15 rounds with a backward facing government?

Opinion: Stan Brooks, PhD