Why are You Afraid to Consider the Other Side?

By 440 Wynn Bigg]
Bigg Success Contributor
04-24-08   

Wynn Bigg Today

 

I was talking to one of my good friends the other day when she said something I found intriguing. She is very politically active, and she told me that she no longer subscribed to a certain magazine.

She said she had grown tired of it because she didn’t agree with its point-of-view.

We’re pretty close, so I asked her a disturbing question …

“Why are you afraid to consider the other side?”

She looked stunned, but didn’t reply.

So I continued. I told her that if she had confidence in her opinions, it wouldn’t bother her to read the other side. In fact, by reading the other side, she would gain more confidence in her positions.

If that wasn’t the case, I could only conclude that she didn’t want to hear the other side because she was afraid she’d find out that she was wrong. So then I asked her another question …

“Which do you think is worse – admitting you’re wrong or living your whole life actually being wrong?”

Still no response from my friend. But she didn’t appear upset, so I kept going.

I said that, it seemed to me, it would be a tragedy to live your whole life fearing that you’re wrong. The best way to make sure you’re right is to continually test your opinions against all the information available.

I would rather discover I’m wrong and admit it. So I read everything I can, trying to balance opinions on all sides of an issue before I arrive at a conclusion. Even then, I continue testing that opinion with any new evidence I can find, pro and con.

That’s the best way I can think of to have confidence in my opinions.

Time to go now … my wife wants to know my opinion of her new outfit. Guess that’s an opinion I’ll keep to myself!

Hear today's lesson and laugh on The Bigg Success Show. 

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