In order to experience a more peaceful existence on Planet Earth, it's necessary to accept the following fact of life: We all have different perceptions and opinions regarding the daily circumstances, events, interactions and interpersonal relationships we are faced with each day. The following "lesson to be learned this week" can possibly reduce lots of stress, aggravation and loss of relationships we humans seem destined to experience throughout our lifetime.
Because you can be quite sure that you will disagree with the opinions and actions of other individuals each and every day, the question that always surfaces is - who is right and who is wrong? Or does it really matter? Or better yet, do you really have to prove that the other person is wrong, regardless of the consequences?
So many relationships come to a bitter end because of a silly difference of opinion, where each party has to prove the other person was wrong. Do you know what I mean? In many of these cases, there is a pure misunderstanding of facts that each individual will blindly argue about. But for some reason, we all have a tendency to have to prove we are right and make sure the other person knows they are wrong.
If you have been married or living with another individual for any length of time, I'm sure you can identify with the premise that most disputes you encounter at home are about the silliest of topics. You may find yourself in the heat of battle just to prove your partner is wrong. These silly disputes repeated often enough, by stubborn individuals who must evolve victorious, can lead to lots of hard feelings. Silly arguments may even lead to the end of a valued relationship. Thus the question to ponder remains "is it really worth the effort to fight to be right?"
The fight to be right is not limited to the home. Just about everywhere you look, you will find someone who has a different opinion than you do. Let's move next door to our neighbors. How many people live next door to someone, perhaps 15 feet away, and haven't spoke with their neighbor for 15 years over a silly difference of opinion or argument that could not be resolved. Both parties had to be right and were willing to fight to the end to prove the other wrong.
Let's take a look at our place of employment next. As an employee, do you agree with everything your employer demands of you? How many people have left their job over a silly dispute, only to find that their next employer wasn't much different? Or reverse the role if you are an employer. Do you agree with every opinion your employees have? If not, should you fight to the end to prove who is right or wrong, possibly resulting in the loss of a loyal and efficient worker?
The list of individuals we can fight with, to prove they are wrong is endless. The individuals range from the policeman who's writing us an unfair ticket to the store clerk who doesn't want to give us a refund for a new return. But is it really worth it?
As you get older and wiser I think you become more tolerant and mellow. You begin to realize that life is too short to fight with everyone over every silly dispute. That's not to say that you should allow others take advantage of you every day. However, you just don't have to go out of your way to prove that you are always right. Instead, make an extra effort to find things that you agree with others about, instead of looking for the areas where you disagree. And instead of fighting - use more diplomacy to get things done. And by the way, don't wait until you are older to mellow out. Start today and you will improve many of your relationships and thus improve your lifestyle. Take off the boxing gloves and start enjoying life more!