Who is Right?

A situation came up recently and the backstory is something of a mystery to me, but the end result was something like, "he knows I'm right." It gave me pause because I didn't think of the situation in terms of right and wrong or winning and losing.

There is significant dichotomy in my head. I could write pages about it. The topic of being correct is a great example. I can be very competitive with myself. I was at Buffalo Wild Wings Saturday and I ordered wings that were more spicy than I was able to really enjoy. I did it because that is how I am. When a scale is put in front of me I will wonder why I am not at the top of it. This is true for wing sauce scales as well as running race results or standardized tests. In other words, I am constantly trying to win. You probably didn't know that eating wings is a contest, and it's not, but if I had one level of spice last time I want to push myself to the next level. Thus I am always pushing, trying to "win" and get the best out of myself.

However, this attitude does not at all extend to my relationships. I can debate right and wrong, correct and incorrect, when the situation demands it, but my interactions really do not have any sort of competition. I am not trying to win against anyone else because we are all in this together. If my mediocre success inspires you to achieve more than I can even dream than we are all better off. I suppose it can still be thought of as a competition, what can we accomplish? What are our limits?

Who am I to say that you are wrong? What authority does one have to judge another?

The moral of the story is, just wait a second before you honk that horn or start screaming in anger or plotting revenge. That option is just digging oneself in a hole.