When Gandhi died
among his few possessions was a small statue of the three wise monkeys
See no evil
hear no evil
say now evil
My generation was raised to be critical
basically the poor critiqued the rich and powerful
grumbling that things could and should be better
and the rich sneered at the poor
as lazy and unambitious
My children have made me aware of my habitual criticism
in a way I never thought possible
If they have nothing good and constructive to say
they are careful to stay neutral
I have criticized them for that
arguing that if something is wrong
one should step up to the plate and say so
they agreed with that in principle
yet continued to stay neutral
Leaving me to think about the three wise monkeys
and how instinctively much wiser than I
my children are
Criticism is a kind of curse
it is certainly not a praise
it engenders negative thinking
and rarely leads to finding solutions
Sure much is wrong
but much more is right
So why voice the wrong
and be silent about the right?
So I am trying to change my habit
by praising what is right
and applying that positive new habit
to thinking positively about what is wrong
and in that way
hopefully
come up with constructive solutions