It’s right to be wrong

I’m stubborn.  I know it, people who know me know it. And really there’s no getting around it.

My stubbornness usually derives from my insistence for perfection. Maybe not necessarily being perfect but when it comes to work or personal life, yes, I strive for success by making decisions when it benefits others around me. I’d hardly call that selfish so I’m using the word stubborn.

There’s nothing wrong with being this way when your reasoning is clearly laid out. But when a person acts this way for the sake of covering his or her own butt, it can become a problem.

I’ve always found it interesting when people will argue and argue and argue with you because they so strongly believe they are right. Again, nothing wrong with that. The issue comes when the person is actually wrong and still won’t concede and continues to argue that point.

There have been a few occasions recently when I have clearly proven people wrong – and it’s not even being done in a challenging manner to see who’s right and who’s wrong – but just rather that I clearly have the facts in front of me but the person still disputes them.

If there’s a time when I’m wrong and someone can prove it to me, hey, by all means let me know. Chances are I won’t put up a fight and continue to say that I’m correct even when I’m obviously wrong.  It doesn’t hurt my pride to admit, “Hey, I guess I wasn’t right.”

It’s not even about wanting an apology or to end the conversation as “the winner,” but at least acknowledging that you were mistaken and just end it.

I’m reminded of the people who disagree with medical findings that cigarette smoking is bad for you. Again, the research and statistics are there, how can anybody argue against it?

At the end of the day I don’t worry about looking foolish if I’m wrong because we’re all human and we know people make mistakes. In fact, it would worry me if somebody was perfect and never got anything wrong.

I guess the difference is in how we handle our wrongness and whether or not we look like an idiot. In the end, we look like a bigger idiot when we disagree with something that’s proven to be otherwise.