27 June, 2007

Statistically Insignificant

I have no idea how I came upon Alex Faaborg’s excellent blog, User Experience Design at Mozilla, but I do very much enjoy reading it. Today’s post, for instance, presents some ideas that anyone working in a technical field can appreciate. What caught my eye was the subtitle “Your Mom is Not Statistically Significant”. What the author is stating is one person’s opinion is not statistically important. This is not what instantly came to mind when I glanced over the subtitle.

It reminded me of a graffiti artist (sorry forgot name) who placed the slogan “Mothers, don’t think you are so important!” on a massive LED board at the side of an expressway in London. I just love the idea that even though many women believe motherhood is a very important and integral component of their/our existence (myself included), we should not live under the illusion that other’s think this. Yes, motherhood is a fantastic challenge. Yes, it might be the most important job we ever have. But, a feeling of importance must come from within, whereas a feeling of self-importance tends to come from seeking acclamation.

1 comment:

  1. Susanne10:47 am

    I'm still struggling with the notion of motherhood being a "job". I always thought parenting is something humans do. Like eating and sleeping. By glorifying motherhood we might end up defining ourselves solely as mothers. And then our self-worth depends on our children only. People tend to forget that the goal of parenting is to make oneself obsolete. And then you're left without your job so to speak.

    (I'm not saying motherhood isn't important, not at all. I only feel that we're making it a little more complicated than necessary.)

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