Sunday, December 14, 2008

Qualified

Have you ever noticed that people LOVE to give advice? They give advice when they are asked. They give advice when they are not. The tell people what they would do if it was THEIR child rolling around the floor at Gymboree, or how they feel about pacifiers, thumb sucking, co-sleeping, losing weight, drinking Pepsi, or VBACs. I am one of those people who loves to give my opinion. My dad has an old saying, "Opinions are like Butt-Holes...everyone has one and they ALL stink." My dad is wiser than I gave him credit for. Originally I thought I was "Qualified" to give my opinion on most things. I do a great deal of research. Most decisions I make have been thoroughly studied and thought-through. I have a degree in Psychology. I minored in Family Studies, focusing mainly on Child Development. I know nothing of Politics and don't claim to. I love the Internet and when I say something dumb I typically check up on the dumb thing I said so I can either learn from it, or beat myself up about being wrong in the first place. All in all, I think I am pretty sharp. I say dumb crap once in a while, and my memory sucks so I get information wrong from time to time. At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter. Nobody wants my opinion, or they would ask it. They don't give a crap about how many people have a uterine rupture with a VBAC, or the amount of Caffeine March of Dimes says is okay to drink during pregnancy. They most likely think I am making my information up, or that I am snotty for imposing my information on them. If they wanted to know these answers they would ask a Gynecologist. The reason I even bother to mention this is that I realized today that I HATE getting advice from people. It has taken me 28 years to figure out who I am. So how can someone claim to have an edge on my life after knowing me for seven months. Even if you really know me, you only know the side of me I show you. I can say the same for you. I could point my finger at you, at your lifestyle, at your parenting, at your marriage, at who you claim to be from what I see. But is that fair? Does what I see adequately represent what you are? Is what you see when you look at my life how it really is? Next time I think to give my advice I will refrain. I will hold my tongue. I will try and realize that there are proffessionals in this world who could give qualified advice and that I am not one of them.

3 comments:

MindyMindy said...

Melissa Melissa Melissa....
I love you.
You are a deep person, or so I am ASSuming.
So, can I give you some advice? Oh wait, no I cant. I guess I'm done commenting.

MindyMindy said...

uhm, really, that is all the pictures I had of you. I dont know where the fabulous ones went. I thought there was one we were looking at that was really cute but I cant see it. WEIRD.

MindyMindy said...

I'm ready for an update! So gimme one.