Milton Mayeroff`S On Caring Essays - Accountability, Emotions

Milton Mayeroff`S On Caring In class we have just completed Milton Mayeroff book On Caring. Mayeroff discusses many of life's philosophies, and the meaning and importance of caring as well as being cared for. He deals with peoples basic morals towards caring and being cared for in many situations. Caring is ?feeling and exhibiting concern and empathy for others.? (Encarta ?99?). I feel that caring is being able to be honest, trust, and also being able to stay strong with courage. All these aspects play a large role in a person growth over years with their family, and friends as well as associates. Caring is often taken for granted, but Mayeroff clearly defines the true meaning of caring in his book. He really makes you recognize who in your life has played a serious role, and how you know if you are truly caring for another. In Mayeroffs book he writes on over thirty topics of caring. I have chosen five topics that I feel are the most significant in his book On Caring. First I believe that honesty is the core essential in caring for another. ?Honesty is present in caring as something positive, and not as a matter of not doing something, not telling lies of not deliberately deceiving others.? Mayeroff (p.g. 25). The only way to be able to build a solid relationship with another person is to be honest. I feel that this is necessary in a relationship; if you are not honest you will not only cheat yourself but others as well. The truth hurts but it is always better to deal with the truth then to be deceived and have to learn how other people deal in stressful situations. I feel personally that this is the core essential ingredient in a caring relationship. ?Honesty is the best policy? Mayeroff (p.g. 26). The second aspect of caring I want to deal with is trust, and how I feel it relates to one of the five major aspect of caring. ?Caring involves trusting the other to grow in its own time and in its own way. It appreciates the independent existence of the other, that the other is other.? Mayeroff (p.g. 27). Being able to trust someone is a key essential in family, friendship, and in marriage. Trust is not something to be learned, but is something that is developed over time. ?In caring for another person I trust him to make mistakes and to learn from them.? Mayeroff (p.g. 27). This is a prime example of how trust is gained in relationships with people. No one has a perfect relationship, we are human and make mistakes but we are also smart enough to learn from our mistakes. But not being able to trust someone can destroy a relationship. ?We show lack of trust by trying to dominate and force the other into a mold, or by requiring guarantees as to the outcome, or even by ?caring? too muc h.? Mayeroff (p.g. 27). The next two topics I am going to discuss go hand and hand, hope and courage. Hope is dependent upon courage, without courage there is no hope. Not to be confused with wishful thinking and unfounded expectations. Such hope is not an expression of the insufficiency of the present in comparison with the sufficiency of a hoped-for future; it is rather an expression of the plenitude of the present, a present alive with a sense of the possible.? Mayeroff (p.g. 32). Mayeroff wants to clarify the difference of when you hope something good happens and the true meaning of hope for someone's well being for example. Hope in turn gives a significant presents to the future for someone. A person that is terminally ill there is the hope for a cure threw scientific medicines, and new breakthroughs with cutting edge technology. ?By contrast, where there is no possibility of new growth, there is despair.? Mayeroff (p.g. 33). Only does courage make hope possible, it is equally true that hope makes for courage?Lack of hope, on the other hand, eats away any sense of worthiness Mayeroff (p.g. 35). Courage is being able to go into the unknown and not turn back. Such as a boy going threw manhood or even a