Money makes the world go round? Wrong.

I received a paper from one of my children today.
It said something about getting successful in life ( no specifics), make money to do certin things ( exactly like that)
I thought it was the saddest thing I read.

Make money, be successful no matter what, to do things.

Then there was a mild rant about how she felt it was not right for older people or others to demand respect, just because they think they are better than others.
Oh the irony.

But it got me thinking.
Had that kid reached out in her to see who she was or who she wanted to be growing up ( which was the assignment). No.

Working in marketing for years, I know that any successful add, video, script, film is all about feelings. It makes you feel. Sadness, empathy, joy, excitement. It makes you laugh, it shocks you.
The advertisers are banking on your feelings.

We have become more and more blaze, we are more and more secluded, afraid to have real conversations. We like, we instagram, we poke, we blog, we tweet, because our nature is communicative, but we become lonelier and isolated.
Entertainment and advertising is all about bringing emotions to the surface, awaken them.
Healthier than drugs, less risky than love.

Money is not what makes the world go round. Emotions are.
They lead you to buy something expensive in order to feel successful. They drive you to play a game in order to feel good at something. Ranks, raids, scores, achievements, loots and rewards are part of the pleasure giving," feeling special and unique" need we have. Drugs, affairs, alcohol are just tools to feel good, alive.

We feel. We don't want to feel the bad and we only want to feel the good.
Marketing is not about cost, it is not about advertising. Its about creating an impression.
Convince you that with that product, you will dissipate the worry. You made it, you are there, you have the best technology, gadget, house...
It will dissipate boredom and the thoughts that maybe you are not the best person you know.
It will entertain you and keep you occupied, and shock you and make you laugh.

But I m repeating myself.
A good marketer, script writer is a good psychologist.
A good voice artist knows how to communicate all that without image, expressions of his face.
A good composer,  gives the right music to pull these heart strings.

The world runs on emotions.
Money is just the tool used for everything else to bring those emotions.

French lessons, life's lessons

So, I started working as a French teacher at a school. I had not taught in nearly 2 years and was a bit intimidated at first by the amount of students in my class...

The timing was off and on, meaning that I looked for steady work but it also coincided with my training at school.
I started teaching, with an idea in mind, that it was temporary.

But once in the classroom, once I started teaching the tricks and the concepts of the language and saw all these kids being interested in what I had to say, really understanding, it all came back to me. Why I liked it. Why I was good.

Explaining the subtleties of the phonetics, training people to dare to sound different, letting them know through a simple exercise of presenting themselves, how to identify who they are, how to find the one thing they want to be and how to be real.

Through
Bonjour, je suis Alain, we can cover " I am shy, I like animals, I do not like bullying. I believe in friendship" and I am lonely, and even " I did not know almost everyone felt like me."
Being a not very popular girl till I hit puberty and then being looked from afar, it took me nearly 2 decades to find friends on facebook and realize people in my school did not avoid me because I was weird and poor-er, but because I was intimidating and- according to most- pretty.
I had no idea.

I want these kids to learn how to speak another language because it is a tol and it educates their brain. i want them to open their minds to other cultures. But I also want them to open up and have meaningful discussion and real moments with themselves and the people around them.
And I know I am the person to do so.

Through:
"Bonjour, je suis Michel, Ahmed, Franceska, Pernille..." they will say
"I  do not know who I am yet, but I am on my way of discovery".

And they will learn how to speak perfect French.