Always being right............

Don't know who the author of this piece is/was,
but they could have done all their research right
here at Speakeasy, and come up with the same conclusion:
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I heard a funny story about a cowboy who ambled into the local
blacksmith shop and picked up a horseshoe, not realizing it had
just come from the forge. He immediately dropped the hot shoe,
shoved his seared hand into his pocket and tried to act
nonchalant.

The blacksmith half smiled and asked, "Kinda hot, wasn't it?"

"Nope," replied the cowboy, "just don't take me long to look at a
horseshoe, that's all."

I chuckle at the story because it illustrates the widespread
truth that most of us have difficulty admitting mistakes. But
even more compelling is our almost universal urge to be right.

I learned of one particular minister who left his pulpit to go
to medical school and become a doctor. An old friend saw him
several years later and expressed surprise at his career change,
but said he assumed it had been because he could care for
people in a more concrete way now that he was practicing
medicine.

"Not at all," the doctor responded honestly, "the reasons were
purely economic. I discovered that people will pay more money to
care for their bodies than for their souls."

Several years lapsed before the friend saw him again and
discovered that he had left medicine for law. "What was your
reason this time?" the friend asked.

"Simple economics again," replied the ex-minister, ex-doctor
attorney. "I learned that people will pay more to prove they are
right than to care for either body or soul."

This man discovered something peculiar about human nature. People
want to be RIGHT. In conflict, most folks want to come out on
top. When they are wronged, they want justice. If no justice is
forthcoming, they lament about the unfairness of it all and brood
in righteous indignation. Many people will go to great lengths to
prove they are right -- and at tremendous cost, not only
financially, but in other ways.

Being the "injured party" exacts a high toll on physical and
emotional health. Some people pay dearly to be right. They stew
about the injustice and it eats away their stomachs in ulcers.
While they wait for an apology or to be vindicated, they grow
resentful and bitter. They obsess on the cause of their pain and
allow it to rob them of one of their most valuable assets --
their happiness. In the end, some people discover they paid far
too high a price to be right.

The only solution, of course, is to let it go. For it often comes
down to one simple and poignant question: Do You Want To Be
Right Or Well? Truth is, too often you can't be both. But when
you let go of being right, you can get on with healing. Let go of
being right and you can finally live fully and happily in the
present.

Do you want to be right or well? That may just be one of the most
important questions you ever answer.
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