For those of you who know me fairly well, it should come as no surprise that I am an argumentative individual. What you might not understand is why I am so argumentative. The answer is I like to explore issues to their fullest extent. I like to know exactly why I am wrong, right, or otherwise partially informed on just about any subject I talk about. I like to explore the issues.
There is a caveat to this. Many people when they argue with me would probably think I want to be told the phrase “You’re right”. While this sentence holds much meaning for me, it is not nearly as useful as hearing the phrase “I’m wrong”. If I believe I am right it doesn’t do me any satisfaction of hearing you admit it. It satisfies me when somebody else says that they are in fact wrong.
I am mentioning this for two reasons. First I had heard a conversation on the Dennis Prager Show last week on the matter of admitting when you are wrong. There is power in admitting that you made a mistake, there is power in owning your own errors and misdeeds. The largest point made by during the conversation, was that you earn credibility when you admit your own mistakes.
The second reason is more personal. Recently I became aware of somebody doing some very egregious actions towards myself. I won’t get into the details, they are not important. When I confronted the individual he never once said a word as to his own misdeeds. When I called him out on his actions all he would do is respond with a blatant lie, or tell me was that I was correct. Not once in the conversation did he apologize, not once did he admit he made a mistake or acknowledge in any way shape or form that he was in fact in the wrong. Needless to say I have no respect nor can I really trust a word this person said.
My question is this. If somebody is willing to admit that another person may be correct, why is it they cannot admit that they themselves may be wrong? It is a subtle difference, but I think it is a very important one. It takes a certain caliber of person to admit their own faults, anybody can admit that somebody else is correct.
