A couple of blogs ago, I talked about how I have two sides as a personal and a professional side that can turn ugly when things don’t go in my way. Now, after a pair of instances where I had my patience tested, I wanted to talk about someone that I sometimes feel like I emulate…and that’s Terrence Fletcher (JK Simmons), the main antagonist from the film “Whiplash” (2014).
…
Terrence is one of the band leaders at the Shaffer Conservatory who holds his students to as high a standard as possible and has zero tolerance for anyone that doesn’t perform at his expectations. Let’s face it, we have all worked for someone who is like Terrence and it’s either his way or the highway. But when it comes to the expectations that I have, it usually means doing things as I see fit and pushing people to doing tasks that I expect them to fulfill.
In the case of Terrence Fletcher, being someone of high standards does have it’s flaws. He really does bring up a good point to the story’s protagonist Andrew Neiman (Miles Thatcher) that there are many teachers and bosses out there that are just way too easy on their students and thus, they don’t go as far as say Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker (who is an underlying theme in “Whiplash”). Fletcher believes that showing tough love and being hard on students gets them to become greater than they can never think of themselves before.
Now that’s not to say I expect people to act according to my standards, but I also know that I can’t always have my way with people. Still, I have to show some restraint towards others, but of course, I know better than to lay a hand on someone, but the urge is always there.
…
Now, while I have to show restraint from physically or verbally hurting someone, Terrence shows no restraint and there are two sides to his methods: the student is made to practice harder but also is making the student resent the teacher. While I don’t have a lot of patience personally, the last thing I want to do is to upset a student while also wanting them to learn something or perform according to my standards. There’s a fine line to cross or balance on when it comes to teaching families, educators and employers about neurodiversity and developmentally different individuals.
…
I have had moments during recent years, particularly during my day job that I have had moments where I just wanted to turn into Terrence Fletcher and just make everyone’s life a living hell, degrading and running people over. There are people who don’t perform to standards and yet they are still employed or people that have developmental differences and don’t have the understanding of respecting my boundaries. In fact, pay attention to the scene where he threatens to demolish someone and you will see how my mind is the moment I clock in until the moment I clock out:
…
As I have said in previous blogs, I am constantly frustrated with the current day job search that has now been going on for a few years as well as the growing depletion of society as a whole. Day after day, I am constantly exposed to moments of impatience, moments of aggravation and moments where things just don’t go my way as a business owner where I advocate and publicly speak. Plus, it’s also because I have autism that there are certain milestones I probably will never obtain and that’s also frustrating in it’s own way.
Now, it’s not really clear that I will one day end up like Terrence Fletcher, I do know that there is that fine line to cross where you need to be tough, but not a complete monster. I know I am not a monster like Terrence Fletcher is, but I sometimes feel like it. Still, I also have a reputation to protect and doing something like what Terrence Fletcher does could possibly destroy it.
…
Catch you all later!!
Comments