People just don’t seem to get it. They have so many wrong notions about work, about life, about me. I keep trying to explain but they refuse to listen or they play games. When people are just plain wrong, I feel bound to correct them. Someone has to take a stand.
We all have a sense of what is right, what is true. For us truth isn’t just an opinion but a guiding light in our journey through life. It’s but natural that we might want to share the light with others. Unfortunately we fail to appreciate the fact that how we see the light is not how others see the light, and so we take it upon ourselves to convince others that what our take on things is the right one. The outcome is that we create conflict and whatever truth we might have to share is lost in the clash of egos.
When we try to convince others about our point of view, we are not expressing the truth but playing a power game where we subordinate others to our way of thinking. We cajole, threaten, exaggerate, intimidate, all supposedly for the greater cause, but we are in fact disrespecting the ability of others to think, to find the truth for themselves.
At the same time it is important that we communicate our point of view. We might also state the reasons why we believe ourselves to be right. Often the problem is a simple one of misunderstanding. By communicating our point of view we have a chance to clear the air. However, we have to leave it at that. Any further attempts to convince them means we are no longer communicating but exerting pressure. We can pressure people to do things, but we can’t pressure them to believe. When it comes to bringing others round to our point of view, we have a much better chance of winning them over when we allow them to think for themselves.