We are not always right

There were two people arguing with each other about something both had different views about. Man A was with the view that apples could be grown on pear trees because people found a way to do so. Man B did not believe so and hence completely ignored the whole idea. This indifference caused the once best freinds to stop talking with each other. Man A tried ways to convince his friend about the idea but man B would not budge.
Once man B came across another man who said that apples could be grown on pear trees. He could not believe his ears. He heard the man say that there were lots of places he saw such thing. He felt remorseful. He did not know what to do. He had lost his friends because of such ignorance. He wanted to go back to his friend and apologise for his mistake.
As he walked, he heard another man saying that apples on a pear tree were absurd and totally unacceptable. He was convinced again that his original idea was true and gave up on the idea on apologising to his friend.

The above story narrates most of our lifes. We come across a lot of things over the internet saying things that may either contradict or match our ideas. When it contradicts we have a certain urge to pour our own ideas to try to convince that anonymous person. Even though we might not know him or we do not know the intentions of his words we feel the urge to put some sense into the talk bringing out facts and figures. That takes our comments to the next level, it is almost funny that we start a debate with that person. But then if we can be convinced of his idea or convince him of our ideas, we have two satisfied people. Therefore, arguing is okay.

On the other hand, when we find something that matches our ideas, we get the Oprah Winfrey's 'Aha moment' or the 'i told you so' moment. We feel that whatever we thought was absolutely correct and therefore stop all ideas that contradict. When we do this we develop a feeling that we are always correct and therefore do not even try and listen to what other people have to say. We are stopping the what the psychologists call, 'Empathetic listening or Empathetic thinking'. We do not try to understand what other person is saying or trying to say. We just stick to our own idea because someone important said the same thing. This is very wrong.

What we need to do is, stand our ground. Be firm on our ideas but always keep a space for improvement. If we should somehow feel that we need to change our thoughts after listening to his, let that seep in. We should not let our ego block knowledge. Otherwise embrace the beautiful indifference that we are born with. Try to embrace and nurture each other's idea in a way that it doesn't stunt someone else's growth. We are not always right.