In Trinidad its called Benin...

This has been about eight weeks in which I was involved in a summer workshop. In fact some of the things which i've used here have been as a result of situations and their handling of such which arose out of the workshops. This week in particular I reference a word which is used in Trinidad to mean confused person...as the monkey in the photo so aptly depict. Confused person in a Trinidad context is called "Benin". (Benin - pronounced - ben-en)

Anyway, why I referenced Benin, is that the discussion arose that the running of the workshops seemed to be a sectarian approach to sidelining a bigger collection of individuals. However like my Trinidadian participant in the
workshop indicated, is, that there are always a sect of persons who complain about anything and everything. Furthermore to explain, these persons will always state that they never knew what was happening and never have a clue as to what took place, yet have an opinion on everything. They are the most miserable and at times the most obnoxious in the line of personalities you have to deal with as an aspiring leader. In fact I would guess that these are the persons who make you become a better individual since you in your mature perspective will evolve to be the bigger person.

As I was previously saying about the workshop - the workshop was advertised in the presence of the collection of all individuals as well as emailed out to all persons, and to make it a bit more laughable, there was a voting process as to who would be willing to attend by the show of hands. Eight weeks later, the persons who missed the opportunity to join the workshop realise the growth and non-pressure environment and the enthusiasm of the existing core of persons attending. What a pity that this happens to so many persons, and the resulting effect as my Trinidadian friend would say is that they are "benin"...

A simple lesson learnt here is that you should maximize each opportunity when you can, whether you feel up to mark at the time or not. The priciple is that you cannot regret NOT taking up the challenge, nor can you become benin. The objective of those persons who have taken up the workshop opportunity in this case is to let it roll off of their shoulders, or to press the ignore button. As easy as it may seem to hit ignore, this may be a bit ticklish since you would be ignoring the attitude/response to the exemption in the workshop and not the person per se. Think benin, and it becomes easier as well as to have a good thought about the things you gained from participating in the workshop/opportunity.

When the dust settles, you must remember to be the bigger person and avoid the "benin" attitude...

Do you know any person who is benin?


*Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/waldo4/2178788631/