Validation - a basic human need?

by Fernando 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  Fernando

  A friend taught me that this is a very important part of interacting with others. In her sales activities for example she makes it a point to listen carefully, indicate where she understands and agrees, make notes, and openly staple the person's business card to her notes.

  Should we be seeking to validate others in our lives and on JWN as having an inalienable right to exist, have an opinion even if different from ours, and to freely express that opinion, and to be heard, and to be understood?

  I'd love to read your thoughts and opinions, especially if you are a member of the seemingly large and usually silent audience on JWN.
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  jgnat

  I am hanging on your very word....
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  Wasanelder Once

  If you don't get validated you could get a ticket.
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  Vidqun

  I go along with political economist and author Francis Fukuyama, responsible for The End of History and the Last Man (1992). Interesting read for those that are interested in the subject. In it he explains why he views Western Civilization as the final development in the evolution of mankind’s political aspirations. In man’s “struggle for recognition” [validation, I guess] he has at last reached a juncture called “liberal democracy,” which includes “liberal politics” and “liberal economics.” Although there would be room for nationalism in such a concept, harsh autocracies and dictatorships could not be tolerated. The break-up of the USSR, and more recently, “the Arab Spring” in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Tunisia, are good examples of a natural movement towards some form of “liberal democracy.” Such a “universal and homogenous state,” Fukuyama views as “the end of history.” The “first men” would be engaged in bloody warfare on the battle field, whereas the “last men” would assert themselves in new and unforseen ways in the economic and political arena. The fact that man’s aspirations to self-worth and recognition [validation?] would to a large degree be attained, he has thus arrived as “the last man.”