A lot of people tell you that if you don’t ask questions, you won’t learn anything. But those are often the same people who are terribly offended when I say something that is just flat wrong.
I have gotten a lot of good information by being wrong. The reason I am able to take strong stands in public is because I have been embarrassed many, many times by finding out I was wrong about something. Now when I go out in public I have to worry a lot less about being made a fool of precisely because I have already been made a fool of a lot.
I got the stupid stuff out and got it corrected.
Research is like military drill. No matter how much you drill, it doesn’t make you ready for combat. You have to SAY things and hear how they sound in public. You have to SAY things and see what others have to say about it.
When I was young, my statements came in three categories:
1) right;
2) wrong and
3) opinion, ie, taste
And you know something. All these decades my statements still come in three categories:
1) right;
2) wrong; and
3) opinion, ie, taste
If you are want for infallibility, this is wrong place. I’m in South Carolina. You’re looking for Rome.
#1 by Mike on 12/10/2004 - 10:32 pm
There you go again Bob, drawing us out of our shells here. I’ve just recently gone thru an experience on my local ISP message board. I’ve been watching it for some time and made a couple of fairly safe posts.
I threw caution to the wind last week and posted David Duke’s article on Christmas and Hannuka.
I am now the resident “White Supremacist.” The ensuing thread is comical. SEMO message forum posting
It was good for me to mouth off a little, I think I could get pretty good at it with some practice.
Right or wrong, I jumped in with both feet!
#2 by Bob Whitaker on 12/11/2004 - 12:14 am
Sic ’em!
#3 by Don on 12/11/2004 - 1:19 am
RE: Right or wrong, I jumped in with both feet!
Right! Right! Right!
#4 by Don on 12/11/2004 - 1:23 am
RE: I think I could get pretty good at it with some practice.
You’re doing rather well already.
#5 by Elizabeth on 12/11/2004 - 7:13 pm
Whenever I go some place I’ve never been before, I almost invariably get lost at least once, coming or going — and sometimes both.
That is aggravating, and can be both tiring and expensive.
But is can be FUN!
I’ve learned a lot from getting lost. I see places I never would have seen, occasionally find places to come back to, and some of the time, have a GREAT time.
Incidentally, I can read maps. I travel by myself a lot, and, since cars in my price range don’t have heads-up displays or GIS, and I can’t always pull over and check the map — that’s how I usually get lost.