Don't Be An Idiot Who Got Lucky

Know Why you believe or do things

I had a problem: I needed to walk across a busy road and was not sure how to do it safely.

I remembered seeing a chicken cross a road once and noticed it had no problem. I noticed that when it walked across it simply darted quickly without looking both ways. It seemed confident and I decided that "confidence" was the key to its safety. So I decided to act on my new realization.

I did not look both ways. I darted across quickly and confidently without looking at any of the traffic headed my way. I heard a few car horns and squealing tires, but I made it safely across!

What would you say to me if I told you that I plan to do that every time I need to cross a busy road? What would you say if I taught your children a class on pedestrian safety?

My theory was obviously not correct. I was an idiot who got lucky. (Or I would have been if that were a true story instead of an illustration.) I was wrong because my reasoning was not sound. The fact that I happened to be safe did not prove my theory sound.

In a way, I came to the "right" conclusion: That I would be safe to cross. However, the reason I came to that conclusion was completely and dangerously WRONG. I was not right. I was an idiot who got lucky.

You may have grown up in a family and church that gave you all the right answers to all the questions you had. It is good to have the answers. However, unless you have learned how to find those answers properly, your knowledge is useless for anything more than those immediate answers. In fact, your "right answers" may hide a logic that is flawed and dangerous to yourself and others.

Pay attention to the ideas people have. Pay more attention to the reasons they hold those ideas. Pay even more attention to why you hold your own ideas. Don't be correct because you are an idiot who got lucky. Be correct because your reasoning is sound.