We live in crazy times.
To say we don’t is just being argumentative.
You would think that with the incredible amount of information available at our fingertips, things would be getting clearer. Instead, they seem to be getting more confusing.
The problem isn’t a lack of information.
The problem is that many people are no longer searching for truth.
They are searching for ammunition.
Not information that might challenge them.
Not facts that might force them to reconsider.
Not perspectives that might help them grow.
They are searching for evidence that supports what they already want to believe.
And because of that, people often reach conclusions before they ever begin their investigation.
Then they spend their time collecting information that justifies the conclusion they already chose.
It happens in politics.
It happens in religion.
It happens in families.
It happens on social media.
It happens everywhere.
The result is a culture filled with people talking but very few listening.
Listening seems to have become a lost art.
People interrupt before others finish.
People respond before they understand.
People assume motives they could never possibly know.
People attack others and then insist they aren’t attacking anyone.
People make statements about entire groups of people and never stop to consider what those statements actually communicate.
Sometimes they hurt others and genuinely don’t realize they are doing it.
Other times they know exactly what they are doing but convince themselves their cause justifies their behavior.
Either way, the damage is done.
What’s fascinating is that everyone claims to want unity.
Everyone wants understanding.
Everyone wants respect.
Yet many of us have become experts at giving those things only to people who already agree with us.
Disagreement has become evidence of evil.
Questions are treated as betrayal.
Nuance is viewed as weakness.
And certainty has become a virtue even when it is built on incomplete information.
The strange thing is that wisdom has always worked differently.
Wise people listen.
Wise people ask questions.
Wise people understand that they don’t know everything.
Wise people realize that being wrong is not the worst thing in the world.
Remaining wrong because you refuse to listen is.
One of the greatest phrases in any conversation is simply this:
“I might be wrong.”
Those four words have become increasingly rare.
Yet those four words are often the doorway to learning something new.
The truth is that none of us sees perfectly.
We all have blind spots.
We all have biases.
We all have experiences that shape the way we see the world.
The answer isn’t to pretend those things don’t exist.
The answer is humility.
Humility listens.
Humility learns.
Humility asks questions.
Humility seeks truth even when the truth is uncomfortable.
Humility values being right less than finding what is right.
Maybe that’s what our culture needs more than anything.
Not louder voices.
Not better insults.
Not stronger political arguments.
Not more social media posts.
Just more people willing to listen.
More people willing to understand before being understood.
More people willing to admit they don’t know everything.
More people willing to follow truth wherever it leads.
Because when people stop searching for truth and start searching only for validation, confusion is inevitable.
And when everyone is talking but nobody is listening, chaos follows close behind.
Well then there’s that.
It is truly a crazy world.
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