I am never wrong!

“Our love of being right is best understood as our fear of being wrong.” — Kathryn Schulz 

Life is complicated, and we always complicate it even further for ourselves. Criticism is hard to take, especially if you have a nice wall of denial built around your ego. All hail King Ego! I find it increasingly difficult to communicate with the “professionals” around me, especially when it comes to taking blame or responsibility. I’m still shocked by people who can never be wrong. Slippery as a bar of soap and smooth as an eel, these ping-pong masters of blame can’t take the heat for anything, and there are a lot of them—everywhere.

I’ve noticed that this strange phenomenon thrives in Bahrain. Some may even call it a sickness: “wrongitis,” the inability to be wrong. In advanced cultures like Japan, people will own up to failure, and sometimes even commit suicide to protect their honor if they’ve led their company or organization astray. Ancient Japanese warriors would disembowel themselves (seppuku) if they failed their country or troops, while today, ministers and CEOs alike step down if they’ve made a big mistake or can’t handle their jobs appropriately.

“I cringe when I see people defend a wrong point or push a bad agenda just because their ego demands to be massaged.

I cringe when I see people defend a wrong point or push a bad agenda just because their ego demands to be massaged. Why is that so, I wonder? Some people cite insecurity; others say it’s a lack of knowledge or sophistication. I’m not sure why people get “wrongitis” or how it spreads, but I respect a person who can immediately take the blame if they’re wrong. More importantly, I respect someone who doesn’t need to be told when they’re wrong—they say it themselves!

Money makes everything easy. Money is cold. It has no emotion, no color, and you can never argue with its logic. With money, there are boundaries, limitations, a beginning, and an end. With money, you will discover the bitter truth, no matter what. Money doesn’t lie, and that’s why people love it so much.

When it comes to human character and intangible goals, it all becomes a different game. The masks that people wear are harder to uncover, their motives more difficult to read, and real friends are few and far between. Be like money. Speak the truth even when it hurts, and be honest with yourself.

“How are we supposed to learn if we don’t make mistakes? How are we supposed to evolve? Don’t you want to evolve?

Embrace your wrongness. Own your mistakes. Who cares? There’s nothing wrong with messing up sometimes, as long as you fix the problem and make something useful out of that mistake. How are we supposed to learn if we don’t make mistakes? How are we supposed to evolve? Don’t you want to evolve?

This is not magic, and it’s not hard. You’ll gain respect, and a lot of it. Saying the words “I don’t know” or “Sorry, my bad” doesn’t make you weak; it makes you strong. I’m sure some of you are taking this seriously, and others are laughing at it (those with “wrongitis”). Whoever you are, just make sure you don’t look stupid for being right all the time.

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