Why is it that we think we are always right? I say we because I assume that myself and all the other people that I see making this same silly mistake are not just coincidences. Yes, not everybody thinks they are right about everything. But I can confidently say that all of us have thought for sure we were right about something and ended up being wrong. I could even guess that this has happened recently for you. Or maybe you are beginning to understand a little bit that you possibly are not the smartest, wisest person under the sun.
The thing is that while sometimes this unfortunate misconception is not that big of a deal and we end up being wrong that Tim Duncan has better career rebounding statistics than Dennis Rodman (note: I was right about Dennis. An anonymous Spurs fan was wrong… sorry J). During times like these, you can use statistical proof to show the other person their fault. However, other times, more important times, you can’t quite as easily show a person that they are wrong. Times like when people want to get married really young. They may think that they know for a fact that they will always love this person and that they should get married right away because that will never change. The problem is that they don’t realize that some of the people telling them to wait and rethink their thoughts (i.e. their parents) may actually know something that they don’t. Maybe, just maybe, old people know stuff. What if one of your parents, or whoever else is trying to advise you, actually had the same experience when they were your age? What if they waited and found out they were glad they did? What if they learned something from those advising them? Weird thought for a lot of young people, but it happens.
The thing that is scary, though, for the younger people today is that we think more than ever that we know better than everyone. Despite the fact that we have no prior experience to go off of other than the limited things we have experienced in our short immature lives, we think we know enough to make pretty much any decision on our own. What if this leads to our generation not taking the advice of those more experienced and understanding of our situation? What if this leads to us not waiting and finding out we wish we would have?
We live in a day where we have to learn from our own mistakes. I think this is a good thing, but it can be really bad if we think that it means we have to make the decisions on our own when we have no way of knowing what is best on our own. So next time you are going to make a big decision (or a small one too for that matter), ask for some advice from somebody that would actually know something. Don’t be afraid to look silly because the people who really look silly are the ones that end up realizing too late that they were wrong.
Proverbs 19:20
“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.”
