Complaint #025: Being Wrong

Being wrong publicly (and, by that, I mean saying something that is incorrect to someone) is probably the worst thing ever. Of all things that exist and of all states of being for all those things, the worst is myself when I'm wrong. At least, I think so. Perhaps you feel the same way about yourself when you are wrong (assuming this occurs).

There are a number of layers to this. The first of which is the fact that I was wrong. No one likes to be wrong, and I'm pretty sure I'm the person who dislikes it the most. Being wrong means that there was something that was in my mind that wasn't what it was supposed to be. I stored information in my brain and it was worthless, in fact worse than worthless, incorrect. Not only that, but I've made this incorrect information public and I've made my fallacy in front of others. I try to not care what people think about me, but this care seeps through all the time (what can I say, I'm human).

The next step is what my brain does to react: it immediately denies having said the wrong thing. This is, of course, the absolute worst thought to have, because it is inherently incorrect (and given enough time anyone can realize that this is a recursive function and I don't know what the maximum stack level for my brain is and what happens if I reach that (hehe computer science humor)). If we stay on the first level of the stack, I'll sometimes react to this initial feeling by denying what I said or trying to explain that I meant something different by what I said.

Hopefully, I spend more than 0.0002 seconds thinking about what I said before reacting to the fact that I said something incorrect because, luckily, my brain eventually copes with the fact that it is fallacious. However, it then spends its energy trying to remember why it had the original incorrect thought and tries to pour blame on that object. Whether it be Wikipedia, an old college roommate, or a misinformed author of an article I read, I blame it for making me give false information. This is, again, the wrong action to take. I must remember both parts of the famous, Ronald Reagan favored phrase: "Trust, but verify". I am the one ultimately responsible for what spews forth from my word hole.

So being wrong every once in a while becomes a good thing: it teaches me, first of all, to be humble, but it also reminds me that I am responsible for all that I do and say. However, if I could avoid the process of being wrong and dealing with that (but still learn these lessons), that would be great because I really do hate being wrong.