It’s really hard to admit when you are wrong
Aug 17, 2017, 12:47 PM | Updated: 3:47 pm
(Randy Holmes/ABC via AP)
Ahhhh man, I hate it when I’m wrong. Absolutely hate it.
And more than that, if it’s in the heat of the moment, and you are pressing me on how wrong I am, I can really dig my heels in and double down on my position. Then I start to get mad, and then I start to get loud. I’m not in that place very often, but when it happens, it’s not my finest moment.
Sound familiar?
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Admitting you are wrong and that you made a mistake is really tough. When you throw in politics, and race, and patriotism on top of that, it can be darn near impossible.
That’s why what late night host Jimmy Kimmel did in a monologue this week stood out to me. He used his airtime to make a plea directly to people that voted for Donald Trump.
I want to speak to those of you who voted for Donald Trump. And first of all, I want to say I get it. I actually do. You’re unhappy with the way things were going. You wanted someone to come in and shake things up. You didn’t want business as usual. Nothing ever seems to get done.
It’s always the same. These candidates make a lot of promises that go nowhere. It happens over and over again. And you’re sick of it.
Then Kimmel goes through a well written riff on some of the many missteps we’ve seen by the White House this year. Then he spoke again to Trump’s supporters.
“It’s time, for especially you who voted for him, to tell him to go,” Kimmel said. “Please. Think about it. He doesn’t even want to be president. He’s miserable. But he won’t resign because his ego is too big. He can’t do it.”
The more important question to me: is my ego too big to change? How about your ego? Sometimes, as much as you want that square peg to fit in the round hole, it just doesn’t. Sometimes, even though you want to be right, all of the evidence is pointing the other way.
Just about every time I’ve actually had the courage to just admit that I’m wrong, it’s worked out for the better. Rarely does the other party continue to punish me.
It’s OK to have hitched your wagon to a once-in-a-lifetime candidate that seemed like he really could shake things up. Now we’ve learned that the shaking isn’t going to stop, and it’s making us all sick.