Need help Re: common sense/common knowledge

[iversonian]

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But what I'm after are solutions, not a status check on my niceness as a brother.

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The solution is for you to worry about yourself. Plenty of "street dumb" people living their lives without your help.

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But my question wasn't, "will he survive? y/n?" It was, what can I do to clue him in to how the world works? Every time I teach him something, he learns something [!]. I think that's a good thing. I'm not convinced, despite what NT or anyone has said, that it's a net negative for him, since it might make him bitter or whatever. Now, how can I accelerate that process, without necessarily involving myself in every step of that process as instructor?

[iversonian]

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My advice:
Trial by fire. Let him learn for himself, you said he was a smart guy, give him a little slack.

-d

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Went off to college for 4 years by himself. Will repeat again in 2 months. He'll definitely get the trial by fire. I'm just not convinced, based on the results from last time, that that by itself will work wonders.

[Banks2334]

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But what I'm after are solutions, not a status check on my niceness as a brother.

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The solution is for you to worry about yourself. Plenty of "street dumb" people living their lives without your help.

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But my question wasn't, "will he survive? y/n?" It was, what can I do to clue him in to how the world works? Every time I teach him something, he learns something [!]. I think that's a good thing. I'm not convinced, despite what NT or anyone has said, that it's a net negative for him, since it might make him bitter or whatever. Now, how can I accelerate that process, without necessarily involving myself in every step of that process as instructor?

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Again, let him live his life. He's an adult. You seem to be getting off on being his "instructor" more than his actual well being. Trial by fire, he'll learn and be just fine. Now get a life for yourself.

[iversonian]

I am doing nothing to stop him from living his life. The problem is, he has no drive to live his own life, as it is. I don't get off on being his instructor; I rather resent that I have to act as his father sometimes. When he comes home, reports an accident, and doesn't give me a license plate no., the "let him figure it out" response is not applicable since it was my car he was driving. But let's say it was his car. Would you really say that to your own 23 year old son? I don't mean, would you baby him and take care of all the insurance crap for him; I mean, if he really didn't know that you need to take down all the info, would you not tell him that he needs to do so?

[Banks2334]

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The problem is, he has no drive to live his own life, as it is. I don't get off on being his instructor; I rather resent that I have to act as his father sometimes.

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You're not his father and he's not asking you to be one. Just because he isn't living his life like you would and doesn't excel at common sense like you do, doesn't mean you need to hold his hand. Stop being a busybody. Just be there to help when he asks for it.

[bobman0330]

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But my question wasn't, "will he survive? y/n?" It was, what can I do to clue him in to how the world works? Every time I teach him something, he learns something [!]. I think that's a good thing.

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Wasn't the point of your post that he doesn't learn anything from you? Like the license plate thing?

Whether it's ideal or not, it sounds like you're wasting your time and possibly alienating your brother. You can either start pinning to-do lists to his jacket or give up.

[iversonian]

So no suggestions, huh? Not a single book recommendation, or go-out-and-do-x exercise, just a lot of "iversonian, who do you think you are to talk like that?"

Well, if nobody else will, I might as well contribute to my own thread, in case someone else has a similar problem.

I have this book called Learn to Earn, by Peter Lynch. It's not like his other books, which are about picking stocks. This is much more general. It teaches you, basically, how business works. Profit, loss, investment, return. It tells you the history of business, from the beginning of capitalism to Wall Street. Towards the end, he'll get into balance sheets and such, but the beginning is a real pleasure to read. I gave it to my brother to read, and I would recommend it to anyone who..... has never read it. It's a really good read, actually. I especially recommend it for people who tend only to see the external workings of business -- people in suits walking into buildings, staring at computer terminals, walking out -- and not really understanding that the underlying force causing all this motion is ROI, and what that means.

[jester710]

You describe your brother as a simple, oblivious guy who thrives on taking clear instructions. I simply can't imagine a guy like that doing well in the military.

[iversonian]

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You describe your brother as a simple, oblivious guy who thrives on taking clear instructions. I simply can't imagine a guy like that doing well in the military.

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I don't think it's otherwise a very good fit either. But I figure being a pharmacist in the Army is like being a pharmacist outside the Army + a little PT.

[jester710]

Also, I love how eager you are to teach others common sense, but then you come to OOT for serious answers.