I have an acquaintance of mine that is incredibly bright, very fit, extremely witty. I will refer to him as Casper. He has everything going for him except for one minor flaw. Casper always has to be right. He will fight you over the most trivial of details. It is not uncommon at social gatherings to see Casper roaming from group to group looking for battle. He’s very good. He only needs a small opening to state his case, present his findings and then move to victory. As a result, you might see a group of people who are fully animated in a joyful discussion suddenly evaporate when Casper approaches. The truth is, Casper is hard to be around. And because of this, he spends a lot of time alone. The fact of the matter is that Casper has never realized that winning an argument does not win friends. It is impossible to be around him without having to put your guard up and being on the defensive.
Unfortunately, I think there is a little Casper in me as well. I often feel the need to be right. Gratefully I don’t usually act on this impulse and I think that with time, I am controlling my “Inner Casper” more and more. I have a long ways yet to go….but I am trying. I don’t want to be Casper. How about you?
