Understanding Basic Needs and Their Impact on Character Development : หน้า 34/164

Suzanne Jeffrey But the four basic needs are the first four that I mentioned: food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. Who, then, provides us with these needs? Usually, our parents or guardians are the people who support us as we grow from day to day. "They are not the only people who support us, of course, but they are the first people who give us what we need. Now, if they give us too much, then we become fat and sluggish. For example, when they feed us every time we cry or get upset or get frustrated, then we simply get too much. And what effect does that have on us? What happens when anyone gets too much? They become ‘fat’ and they don’t realize that they have to have a good work ethic in order to make a living. In fact, they think that someone will provide them with everything that they want. Why? Because they have been given everything their whole life – from the time they were born. "And what happens if we get too little and our guardian is not there when we need him or her to feed us, or change our diaper? Then we are never satisfied. We anger easily, and we become selfish or greedy: All because our caregiver is not there when we need him or her. "So, you see, from the time we are born, we have lessons taught to us that provide us with our basic characteristics, or qualities, that will stay with us for a very long time. We learn from when we are in our mother’s womb. And when we become fully conscious of our surroundings and the people who are closest to us in our childhood, we develop our ‘character’. "Now who, exactly, affects us the most? Well…" he continues, and immediately he uncovers a Lucite case that was specifically, and obviously, designed for this teaching. It is a large clear case, a moveable display, which is built like a multi-dimensional cross with the center piece containing a clear box with a picture of a young person. To the front of the figure is another Lucite box depicting “parents” or “guardians”; to the right is another box depicting “teachers”, to the left, “friends, colleagues, and peers”, to the back, “spouse and family”, above, “spiritual leader”, and below, if applicable, “employees or those under your management”. “This case depicts the people who are generally in our lives and with whom we have contact almost every day. It is, in fact, a visual sociogram of the groups we belong to in our lives and it is a visualization of the people with whom we interact. As you can see, our parents, or guardians, have the most immediate – and constant – affect on us because we**