What if Nobody is Wrong (or Right)?Is your wife wrong? Is your ex-wife wrong? Is your husband wrong? Is your ex-husband wrong? Or are you wrong? Are your children wrong? Are your parents wrong? Is your sibling wrong? Or are you wrong? Is your boss wrong? Is your employee wrong? Is your co-worker wrong? Or are you wrong? Is your teacher wrong? Are your students wrong? Are your classmates wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the Nazis wrong? Are the Communists wrong? Are the Socialists wrong? Are the Democrats wrong? Are the Republicans wrong? Are the Libertarians wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the Americans wrong? Are the Taliban wrong? Are the Chinese wrong? Are the Japanese wrong? Are the South Africans wrong? Are the Indians wrong? Are the Pakistanis wrong? Are the Israelis wrong? Are the Palestinians wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the African-Americans wrong? Are the Caucasians wrong? Are Hispanics wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the Moslems wrong? Are the Christians wrong? Are the Catholics wrong? Are the Baptists wrong? Are the fundamentalists wrong? Are the Jews wrong? Are the Buddhists wrong? Are the New Agers wrong? Are the agnostics wrong? Are the atheists wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the hawks wrong? Are the doves wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the truth-tellers wrong? Are the liars wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the gentle people wrong? Are the aggressive people wrong? Are the friendly people wrong? Are the careful people wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the men wrong? Are the women wrong? Or are you wrong? Is human nature wrong? Is animal nature wrong? Is sexual passion wrong? Is gluttony wrong? Is jealousy wrong? Is envy wrong? Is fear wrong? Is resisting fear wrong? Is anger wrong? Is depression wrong? Is resentment wrong? Is smoking wrong? Is drinking wrong? Is taking drugs wrong? Is prostitution wrong? Is killing wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the meat eaters wrong? Are the vegetarians wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the terrorists wrong? Are the anti-terrorists wrong? Or are you wrong? Are the radicals wrong? Are the extremists wrong? Are the compromisers wrong? Are the demonstrators wrong? Is the man on the street wrong? Or are you wrong? Somebody must be wrong! Everybody cannot be right. How could we live without wrong and right? Somebody must be at fault. Somebody must be right and good. What would we do without a bad guy, either in someone else or in ourselves? What would we do without victims? Did you ever notice that being a victim is the most widely held position in the world? Show me a human being and 99 percent of the time I will be able to find one or more areas of h/is life in which s/he is a victim. Show me two enemies, show me two people who make each other wrong, and I will show you two people each of whom considers himself to be the victim. Show me a person who feels guilty, show me a person who makes himself wrong in any way, and I will show you a person who considers some part of himself to be a victim. It would be a very scary world indeed without the idea of bad guys or the idea that someone is the victim. Let me suggest a distinction between the words “wrong” and “inaccurate.” Let me suggest a distinction between the words “right” and “accurate.” To say that someone is wrong is nothing more than an expression of disapproval and, perhaps, an assertion that some specified standard of behavior has been violated. This standard of behavior may or may not be honored by the person or people being judged or by others who share a similar standard of behavior of right/wrong. And the opposite is true if you say that someone is right. In large measure, the ideas of wrong and right remain ungrounded and, therefore, unverifiable in the world. The ideas of wrong and right, bad and good, in their attempt to make us feel more secure, to make the world seem simpler and more straightforward than it actually is (Please! Just tell me the right thing to do!), end up creating more righteous and misguided bloodshed (whether on the battlefield or with the mini-dramas inside our families). Honor yourself for choosing the courage to let go of right and wrong. Begin, instead, to examine the costs, benefits, and risks in terms of getting what you really want in your life. ? A free society is a place where it’s safe to be unpopular. —Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965, statesman) Transcending judgment To transcend making wrong includes letting go of judging others for judging as well as judging yourself for judging. —Dwight GoldWinde Click here >> How to buy this book? For more essay(s) on courage and the right-wrong paradigm >> |
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