There is no sin in admitting you are wrong.
The sin exists in knowing you are wrong, and refusing to admit it.
The mark of any professional is the ability to acknowledge facts and make decisions based on reason, not emotion.
Most of all, the mark of a professional, and of a true emotionally mature adult, is the ability to admit when you’re wrong.
The environment shouldn’t matter, whether it be politics or business or family.
To this day I remember being late for class as I watched the news. I remember cheering on what was taking place even though I knew very little about it.
But I knew the political party I was a member of was in favor of it. And I knew the other political party was against it. Since they were always wrong, it must be a good thing that it was happening.
Right?
No. I was wrong. And it was less than a year before I realized it.
My critical thinking skills had been shut off in favor of what was easy, agreeing with the people who shared a label with me.
In politics it is virtually unheard of for people to criticize members of their own party or sing the praises of a member of another.
But it really shouldn’t be.
Worth 30 Seconds of Your Time
That’s why I was excited to find this clip I had come across many years ago from “The Daily Show.”
In the clip itself, host Jon Stewart discusses some sensitive topics at the time.
The politics and your position on the issue is not relevant for this example. Skip to 7:00 and really listen.
I won’t touch on the politics of it one way or the other, but skip to the 7:00 minute mark and Jon Stewart discusses how his original distaste for a well known celebrity has now evolved into understanding and respect.
And while Stewart hasn’t necessarily changed his position, he acknowledges that being a few years older and wiser, he now realizes that it was wrong of him to group all people together just because you don’t agree with what they’re saying.
“I was wrong,” he says.
Regardless of your thoughts on his show or his politics, good or bad, Jon Stewart did what virtually no journalist, politician or adult today can bring himself to do when he knows he was wrong.
He admitted it.
Regardless of your job or position, take that to heart and consider acknowledging you may occasionally be wrong.
And when it happens, (it will), be big enough to admit it.
I was wrong.
And I’m not ashamed to say so.
