Why Are Green Pens Less Used?
Society has a penchant for sadness. We tend to focus on mistakes, punish and torture ourselves with them. We underline everything with a red pen and completely forget about the green pen…
Small loopholes that don’t matter become the worst crime, the greatest violation, the most absolute proof of our uselessness. We wave this whip by hurting ourselves and others. After that, we try to heal our wounds with a clumsy hand that refuses to follow a rhythm different from that marked by society.
If there was a handbook for unhappy people, this trait would surely appear on the front page. A lot of people are very good at torturing themselves. They do it even in front of others, and not just when they are alone. At school, we are not taught to channel our emotions into working in our favor. We use the red pen instead of the green pen. The mistakes are big and the right answers are taken for granted.
The green pen in childhood
Teachers claim the attention of their students for those points through which error breathes. If you struggle with math and don’t have a grade point average, you’ll probably be spending your summer doing math exercises and problem-solving. English or your own language is put aside because your very good grades did not attract attention.
I was a student and now I am a teacher. On my way, I saw hundreds of corrected assignments on which the same things were underlined. The ones that were wrong. The work could be clean and well thought out, but it didn’t matter: a small spelling mistake, an oversight when entering the units or a careless mistake with a sign always stood out, like the nose in the middle of the figure .
The green pen is an attitude
Thus, it is the errors which, very often, condition the distribution that we make of time. The philosophy is to reduce the cracks through which water can enter. On the other side of the coin, we find a more attractive and stimulating didactic. That which consists in underlining the successes, the difference between the before and the after, the result of the effort. This, traditionally, is done in green and not in red. This is why we use these two colors.
Because we all use them, even if we don’t correct exams. We are going home, our partner has made dinner, put everything away but forgot to make the bed. What are we going to say, and after, and after…? What are we going to report? The glass half full or half empty is not just a matter of pessimism or optimism. It is a filter in our gaze.
We also use pens with other adults. The question is which color is used the most with the others. And with ourselves. Do we end our day thinking about these data which did not respond to the economic forecasts of our department? Or those exercises that we did for days and that made our knee pain go away?
The red pen or the green pen is about how we treat others and how we treat ourselves. We think generosity is a great value but it must be admitted that we don’t apply it much in this field. We admire people who motivate and comfort others but… why don’t we admire ourselves when we do? Is it true that green ink is extremely expensive and red ink costs nothing?
Going beyond mistakes allows us to aspire to a balance where all colors can be combined. Acquiring a full color palette will make us stronger on personal grounds. And will turn us into an example for others in the social field.
Our thoughts We will explain to you how we should not let ourselves be overcome by discouragement or negative thoughts. Learn to see beyond and you …
