No one can be 100% right. Not me, not you, not anyone.

It’s pretty dang easy to be wrong, though. Super easy. Which is frustrating.

It’s easy to be wrong, it takes constant effort to be as right as possible in any given situation, and we’ll still fail pretty regularly because we’re human.

However, I have a personal philosophy that I call “Be more right,” meaning I work towards being and doing right whenever I can.

In April of last year, I wrote about how we leak power when we let other’s behaviors justify doing something we believe is wrong. @MsPeachieRocks said:

I often hear from people that they get approached in a certain negative way, so they feel they have to volley back the same way for the person to take it seriously.
ie if they swear you swear back, if they hit, you hit back.
Doesn’t that mean they are directing the exchange in a way that may be counter to your own code?

Yes, unless your code allows for that sort of things. Some do.

What is the correct way to handle this type of situation?

Handle it the way you know is right.

Of course, this will be different for everyone, and I have no desire to prescribe behaviors. I’m not the czarina of the world, nor would I want to be.

But respond to people in a way that is good for you.

To me, it’s about moral/ethical compass. What is right to me is important, and if that is being considerate, then anyone who influences me to be otherwise has power over me.

And not in a good way.

Sure, I still get snarky sometimes.

More often (now), though, I simply converse respectfully and bow out kindly and with best wishes when necessary.

What is right?

Again, I’ll say that’s for you to decide.

Your right and mine are likely to be different in many ways.

It’s not for me to decide how you think and feel, or to dictate what is right or wrong for you. It’s up to you.

It’s not for anyone to decide how I think and feel, or to dictate what is right or wrong for me.

And yet, if I let anyone cause me to do something I know is wrong, then I have given that power to them.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay