The Right Stuff

I once had a boss who offered some constructive criticism.  He said, “You’re kinda like my ex-wife….you need to be right all the time.”

I thought about that and realized there was a lot of truth to what he said.  Logically I recognized that I could not possibly be right all the time.  But usually I thought I was.

And that meant that if I thought my views and opinions were right, then those with opposing ideas had to be wrong.  Kind of like a zero-sum game.

Well, it’s one thing for an individual to strongly feel that he is right and behave accordingly.  But what happens when groups feel the same sense of correctness in an extreme manner?  Or for that matter, an entire country?

When that happens, we get all kinds of “fallout.”  It may be a Timothy McVeigh or the Klu Klux Klan. It might involve flying planes into buildings or burning suspected witches at the stake.  It could involve enslaving people of an opposing (i.e. perceived to be inferior) race or religion. 

Or it could be a country who believes it is so right, that it has the moral duty to invade other countries and change regimes.  A country that believes its form of government is so superior, that every other country ought to have the same sort of structure.

It’s a scary thing when powerful groups feel self-righteous.  It is even more frightening when those groups claim to hear from God.  For then, nobody can challenge their mandate, and they are convinced that their divine authority supercedes all human laws and regulations.

All Muslims are positive that they have the corner on truth.  All Christians feel the same way.  One of them has to be wrong.  And, of course, it’s possible that they are both wrong!

On a smaller scale, there are lots of divisions within Christianity related to doctrinal debates and different interpretations of scripture.  Each side fights for what they maintain is the “only right and true way.”  Again…they cannot all be right….and they may all be wrong.

We need tolerance.  We need to acknowledge that in matters of opinion, nobody can prove that their views are the solely correct ones.  Therefore, a live-and-let-live attitude is the best solution.

As Bill and Ted used to say, “Be excellent to each other!”  Realize that you may be wrong sometimes and cut the other guy some slack.

That’s the right stuff.