Being Wrong

Being Wrong.

There was a silly little "Non Sequitor" cartoon on my calendar this morning that got me to thinkin' about being wrong. It showed a number of people gathered around a gravesite with the coffin bein' lowered into the ground. The inscription on the headstone read: "OK, OK, I was wrong", and the caption said, "So, turns out it really did kill him to admit it". I don't know whether it's intended or not, but that's a pretty profound statement. It opens up a pretty big Pandora's box about who's right and who's wrong - about anything.

I guess it all centers around opinions, or at least that's where it starts - like "Elbow Gate" for example. Actually, it only begins with opinions and quickly deteriorates into name-calling and insults by proponents of the opinions, usually having nothing to do with the topic at hand. Take the O. J. Simpson trial for example. Does anybody know who the victims are? I don't think so. They certainly weren't central to the trial. Well, and the whole business about the Fort McMurray fire sprouted about as many negative opinions about Rachel Notley as could be mustered. And if they weren't about Rachel Notley, then they were about the NDP. The opinions about that equaled the rage of the fire itself. And the intransigence of the opinionaters (if that's a word) is - well - intransigent.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't include myself in that miserable lot because truth be told, I have my own opinion of those opinions and their sources. So what it amounts to is an adversarial mess. What we need to do (in my opinion) is to find some grounds for compromise; some sort of cauldron to melt down these differing opinions into a homogeneous consensus, just as was done in the six nation confederacy during its existence. We need to stop the name-calling and the promotion of hatred and attendant poisonous rhetoric that social media seems to give us license to harbor. We need to apply the law of the dreaded "R" word and begin to show a little respect to others and to situations. We need to remove the wrongness from our minds and tongues.

When it comes right down to it, we all have value as do our pursuits. We all deserve the right to be heard and our ideas considered. Perhaps we need to treat these irresponsible outbursts as wrong mindedness until such time as we educate ourselves enough to show consideration for our fellow man. At least that's how it seems to me from up here on the top shelf.

Just sayin'.