That's Your Cue...

I generally don't seek deliberately to embarrass people (and you shouldn't either!) but it happens. Now, I'm not talking about embarrassment like, for instance, we're out in public and I'm with you, and I'm actin' a clear fool, making you look like an idiot by association. Nor am I'm talking about embarrassment like yankin' down someone's elastic gym pants, like a flaming homosexual might do (yeah, that's a punch at somebody from high school).

The embarrassment I'm talking about is the direct result of people not knowing when to throw in the towel on things. It is conjured by listening to pride in unimportant matters. What begins as a nothing becomes a something when we're too proud to admit being wrong, or to settle for agreeing to disagree.

I've got some advice for ya; if you ever get into an argument, you'd better not stake your pride on it. This is what happens when you stake your pride in an argument: you lose site of logic. You may have a good argument, but the fact is, once an argument is disproved, it can't be proven no matter how much more you talk.

It's easier to conceive mental pictures, so lemme paint this one for understanding: a Bruce Lee flick. In most Bruce Lee flicks, when you think about it, all those people really didn't hafta get kicked in the face like that. Once they saw the first two-to-four people get trimmed, that was their cue. They just missed the cue because their pride blinded them.

"FOR THE MASTA! FOR HONOR! FOR..."

*POP-POP*

"Four... five... six..."

Sometimes it feels like I see in 5 dimensions or something. When I debate, I see things just as plain as can be. I'm not saying I'm always right; but when I'm wrong, I can see that too. And THAT's the rare ability that I never see from folks.

See, before I take a position on something, this is how I think:

1. This is my rough perspective.
2. This is my rough perspective from an critical, antagonistic, opposing view.
3. This is my new perspective, revised after considering the holes in my own perspective.

I do all this BEFORE I take a stance on something. So, I don't present arguments based on blind faith (unless I'm debating something religious--- which I don't do often, since faith is unproveable). See, logical thinking is like mathematics/arithmetic: process of elimination. In math, you don't spend your time trying to validate incorrect answers. If you work a trigonometric proof and it doesn't work out, then something is WRONG. And once something is deemed incorrect, you CHUCK it. That's your CUE...

Same thing in rational, reasonable, logical thinking: once a thing is wrong, it's ALWAYS wrong. You don't push on and on once your argument is punctured. This isn't a blimp that you can float to a crash-landing... there is no land!

But that's when the humiliation comes back into play.

(Insert visual aid here)

What does it look like when a blimp is punctured over the Pacific Ocean, and the pilot tries to land... where there IS no land... Not a SPECK of land for hundreds of miles... Not even SHALLOW WATER for hundreds of miles...

That's humiliating. That's FUNNY. That's sad... and that's STILL funny.

Moral of the story: it's just as important to know when one has won as it is to know when one has lost. Sometimes, if you don't let go, situations will take you with them. And what could've been a small difference of opinion will swirl into a regrettable, unforgettable circus of embarrassment. Remember: it's about finding the truth, not proving you right.