Right as Rain

One (of many) interesting human traits is the constant need to be right. Our ego begins dictating this to us in early childhood, and it never stops. A good many arguments, at least from my perspective, stem from the need to be right. We have a point to make, a piece of knowledge to unleash on the world, wisdom to share. We are right, or we would not be saying or doing what we are saying or doing. I do it myself. I like being right. It makes me feel, um, smart, I guess. When you’re right you can puff out your chest and pound on it and shout it from the mountaintop: “Look at me! I’m right! Yes, again! Why does that surprise you?”

Of course, by default, being right means the other person is wrong. Yet they don’t think so. They, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, think they are right. Imagine that. So begins the battle of the egos. Egos are big and bold and brash and unrelenting. They demand to be heard.  Mine, especially. I work hard to keep it penned in, restricting its movement, only allowing it out for air when no one’s looking. But alas, it doesn’t like that. No point in having an ego, really, if no one is appreciating it! Therefore the struggle wages on.

Being right leads to my constant and irrefutable truth (at least according to my ego), that reality is nothing more than perception. If I’m right, and if you’re right, well, we have an issue. Because, like the premise that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, we can’t both be right unless we’re agreeing with each other. When we’re not, someone has to be wrong. And someone has to prove that. Reality, on the other hand, would dictate it’s not really that one is right and one is wrong. It’s not that simple. It’s that one believes they are right, and the other believes they are right. Heels are dug in, battle stances set, and both sides refuse to concede ground, and refuse to accept that maybe they are both right, in their own right, so to speak.

Honestly, being right as rain only makes you wetter than the person who is accepting of the fact there can be more than one right. We can’t have world peace when we all need to be right. But, we can begin working toward it, within our own social circles. We can let go of being right when being right no longer suits the needs of our relationships, or our lives. I have found, when able to keep ego pinned down, I am wrong far more often than my ego would ever allow me to admit, and I am far more likely to let it go and accept the other right staring me in in face as viable, and quite possibly, more right than my right. And my ego and I are both pretty sure we’re right as rain on this one.

~ jwb ~