Last Saturday, November 7th, 2015, the National Police replaced the militia in Ukraine.
There were many reasons for this. Statistical researches show that only 2% of Ukrainians trusted militia. The truth is that most Ukrainians do not trust courts and other law enforcement organs also. Less than 10% of Ukrainians trusted courts.
There is nothing to say about such low authority of judiciary system and law enforcement agencies, except that these organs must respect, protect and fulfill the human rights standards. Ukrainian courts must be cleaned from judges that were involved in corrupt practices. Do you agree with me? The prosecutors and investigators must investigate the crimes, catch the criminals and prosecute them. The war against corruption must be won in Ukraine. Do you agree to with statements?
But stop, wait a minute. I used too many musts. All these demands feed me with negative emotions.
I would like to talk a bit more about my personal experience, but not about statistical researches.
Specifically, I'd like to share with you the story that happened to me in 2000 when I was a final-year militia academy student. I decided to go postgraduate study. So I had to pass English exam. I needed to write a law review and present it in English. The problem was that English was not my interest at that time. Frankly speaking, the same was about a computer. I didn't even have a computer. I didn't use the Internet. I went to the library and skimmed over a few legal magazines in English. Fortunately, I found the magazine of FBI Academy. The articles were printed in this magazine in a manner of the mechanical typewriter. I didn't even need to waste time for typing. I could make copies only. All I needed was to translate the text. I used machine translation for this.
The article was about FBI practice of investigation some fatal episodes with asphyxia. The magazine called "Deviant and Criminal Sexuality." The title of article was "The overview of autoerotic activity."
I translated the whole article but I stumbled over the words "autoerotic activity" the translation. Machine translation didn't translate it. I asked my English teacher for help. She said that she had dictionaries in many special fields, including law. A few days later we've met. She looked confused. She said that according medical dictionary it meant "masturbation." She asked why I needed this. I explained. My English teacher recommended me to change the subject. But how could I do this? I had no time! I said about this.
"Yuriy, you must," she demanded. "You can not report to the exam commission about masturbation! You are my student. It's my reputation among English teachers!"
I nodded. It was my turn to be confused.
So I thought, okay, I have to have some criteria of how to choose the subject for the exam. Do I want to report about masturbation in the exam? A little voice deep down inside told me that this subject is worth more for FBI in USA rather than for the militia in Ukraine. But I was young and bold. Besides, my English teacher was not a commissioner. And she didn't even read the text. Really, I had too little time for another law review. So I prepared my report the best I could... and passed an exam with honors, despite my English, because my topic stood out against others.
A few years later I discovered that "autoerotic activity" is a psychological term. There is nothing provocative in it. Later I met one interesting book by American psychologist Albert Ellis. The author humorously coined the term "MUSTurbation" as a play on the words "must" and "masturbation" in order to describe all the "musts," "shoulds," "have-tos," "oughts" that we place on ourselves.
I must... You should... They have to...
All these statements describe "absolutist thinking," or believing things are always in black or white. It's obviously irrational. This kind of thinking drives a lot of harmful choices we make in our lives. We get frustration, panic, stress, anger, anxiety, lack of sleep and depression. Finally we get stuck in a bad place.
We are shy to talk about masturbation and put on ourselves irrational demands willingly. But we do MUSTurbation:
"I must be a successful, thoroughly competent lawyer. If not, I'll be a failure."
"They must behave themselves according to honesty and with kindness at all times. If not, they will be evil persons who should be punished."
"The National Police must be more efficient than the militia. If not, it's just a trick with names."
"The universe has to give me what I want, and if it doesn't, I will find that unbearable."
We obsessively convince ourselves that we must live up to these demands although they are obviously irrational. Then we blame ourselves and others severely.
Albert Ellis advised to dispute these irrational beliefs. I agree with him.
Will the National Police work better than militia? I hope, it will. I am a lawyer and I know what it means to ask the investigators about making investigative actions and then complain against investigators' laziness...
I hope that the National Police will deal with crimes better than the militia.
I hope that new skilled judges will come.
But I can't demand this. We all know that power corrupts.
It is irrational to think that the officer who served in the militia during many years becomes more skilled after changing the uniform. It is irrational to think that new police or judges or government will make us happier.
We have everything what we need to be happy. I don't say about what we want. But we have everything what we need.
Fellow Toastmasters, we learn how to speak in front of an audience. We try to clean our speeches from "cruch" words. We have even a special role for this - Ah-Counter who notes speakers' "cruch" words. As a Toastmaster I see now that all my "musts", "shoulds", "have-tos", "oughts" in everyday life sound like "cruch" words. I came to conclusion that it will be better for me to eliminate these words from my vocabulary in reference with the self, others and the world.
And what about your list of "crutch" words in your daily life?
There were many reasons for this. Statistical researches show that only 2% of Ukrainians trusted militia. The truth is that most Ukrainians do not trust courts and other law enforcement organs also. Less than 10% of Ukrainians trusted courts.
There is nothing to say about such low authority of judiciary system and law enforcement agencies, except that these organs must respect, protect and fulfill the human rights standards. Ukrainian courts must be cleaned from judges that were involved in corrupt practices. Do you agree with me? The prosecutors and investigators must investigate the crimes, catch the criminals and prosecute them. The war against corruption must be won in Ukraine. Do you agree to with statements?
But stop, wait a minute. I used too many musts. All these demands feed me with negative emotions.
I would like to talk a bit more about my personal experience, but not about statistical researches.
Specifically, I'd like to share with you the story that happened to me in 2000 when I was a final-year militia academy student. I decided to go postgraduate study. So I had to pass English exam. I needed to write a law review and present it in English. The problem was that English was not my interest at that time. Frankly speaking, the same was about a computer. I didn't even have a computer. I didn't use the Internet. I went to the library and skimmed over a few legal magazines in English. Fortunately, I found the magazine of FBI Academy. The articles were printed in this magazine in a manner of the mechanical typewriter. I didn't even need to waste time for typing. I could make copies only. All I needed was to translate the text. I used machine translation for this.
The article was about FBI practice of investigation some fatal episodes with asphyxia. The magazine called "Deviant and Criminal Sexuality." The title of article was "The overview of autoerotic activity."
I translated the whole article but I stumbled over the words "autoerotic activity" the translation. Machine translation didn't translate it. I asked my English teacher for help. She said that she had dictionaries in many special fields, including law. A few days later we've met. She looked confused. She said that according medical dictionary it meant "masturbation." She asked why I needed this. I explained. My English teacher recommended me to change the subject. But how could I do this? I had no time! I said about this.
"Yuriy, you must," she demanded. "You can not report to the exam commission about masturbation! You are my student. It's my reputation among English teachers!"
I nodded. It was my turn to be confused.
So I thought, okay, I have to have some criteria of how to choose the subject for the exam. Do I want to report about masturbation in the exam? A little voice deep down inside told me that this subject is worth more for FBI in USA rather than for the militia in Ukraine. But I was young and bold. Besides, my English teacher was not a commissioner. And she didn't even read the text. Really, I had too little time for another law review. So I prepared my report the best I could... and passed an exam with honors, despite my English, because my topic stood out against others.
A few years later I discovered that "autoerotic activity" is a psychological term. There is nothing provocative in it. Later I met one interesting book by American psychologist Albert Ellis. The author humorously coined the term "MUSTurbation" as a play on the words "must" and "masturbation" in order to describe all the "musts," "shoulds," "have-tos," "oughts" that we place on ourselves.
I must... You should... They have to...
All these statements describe "absolutist thinking," or believing things are always in black or white. It's obviously irrational. This kind of thinking drives a lot of harmful choices we make in our lives. We get frustration, panic, stress, anger, anxiety, lack of sleep and depression. Finally we get stuck in a bad place.
We are shy to talk about masturbation and put on ourselves irrational demands willingly. But we do MUSTurbation:
"I must be a successful, thoroughly competent lawyer. If not, I'll be a failure."
"They must behave themselves according to honesty and with kindness at all times. If not, they will be evil persons who should be punished."
"The National Police must be more efficient than the militia. If not, it's just a trick with names."
"The universe has to give me what I want, and if it doesn't, I will find that unbearable."
We obsessively convince ourselves that we must live up to these demands although they are obviously irrational. Then we blame ourselves and others severely.
Albert Ellis advised to dispute these irrational beliefs. I agree with him.
Will the National Police work better than militia? I hope, it will. I am a lawyer and I know what it means to ask the investigators about making investigative actions and then complain against investigators' laziness...
I hope that the National Police will deal with crimes better than the militia.
I hope that new skilled judges will come.
But I can't demand this. We all know that power corrupts.
It is irrational to think that the officer who served in the militia during many years becomes more skilled after changing the uniform. It is irrational to think that new police or judges or government will make us happier.
We have everything what we need to be happy. I don't say about what we want. But we have everything what we need.
Fellow Toastmasters, we learn how to speak in front of an audience. We try to clean our speeches from "cruch" words. We have even a special role for this - Ah-Counter who notes speakers' "cruch" words. As a Toastmaster I see now that all my "musts", "shoulds", "have-tos", "oughts" in everyday life sound like "cruch" words. I came to conclusion that it will be better for me to eliminate these words from my vocabulary in reference with the self, others and the world.
And what about your list of "crutch" words in your daily life?