you know when you are right - you just do. it is an extremely strong feeling, a one that justifies almost anything; it can also lead to distress, annoyance and frustration if your fellow human beings fail to understand how right you are. being right empowers you; it gives you permission to do things you otherwise necessary wouldn't and say things you in other situation would not utter out loud. it makes it easy to dismiss differing opinions -- well obviously, they are either plain wrong or not just thought through -- and possibly even consider people expressing them slightly stupid, or at least not well informed.
and if it, god forbids, sometimes happens that we are actually proven wrong in a way we can't deny -- never mind that, the mind has a way of explaining it the best way around. we might even admit we were wrong, but somewhere in the back of our heads remains the feeling of being robbed of something -- the feeling of being right. how strong this reaction is depends largely, i would imagine, on the level of personal pride of the individual, and how willing they are to agree that "my way or the highway" is not always the best policy to go with. this will then partly define future actions, opinions and inclinations.
and yet being right is a fallacy, constructed on our view of the world, our personalities, experiences, our perceptions and interpretations of those perceptions; and these are never complete. never. if i'm honest, being right frightens me a bit. when you say you are right, you close something in your mind -- a door, let's say -- and when doing that you both lock yourself in and others out.
because everybody, all around, at least most of the time, is right.
and being right has nothing to do with truth.
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