Is criticism hard to take? What makes it easier? When's the last time you gave criticism successfully? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1102).
The
importance of these questions is underlined by the fact that wars
develop coincident with intensifying levels of criticism. The stark
question is: could countless casualties have been avoided had mankind
better ways of giving and receiving criticism? We can come to
surmise that the true origin of hostilities is often not primarily
from underlying property or power issues, but arises with the
escalation of criticism itself. Human behavior is deeply positioned
to pay an immeasurable price and to undergo major sacrifices in the
pursuit of “principle alone”—a major elicitor of which is that
of perceiving ill-treatment in the form of criticism.
I
don't like any criticism—especially any criticism I perceive as
unfair. What gets my goat above all else is when someone attributes
ulterior motives or nefarious intangible character traits to me or my
friends. Surely there have been people who have garnered great power
and influence based upon one characteristic alone—their penchant for
pronouncing, with great gravitas, the hidden motives and defective
traits of others. An essential requirement for peaceful coexistence
is the assiduous avoidance of this practice and concentrating instead
on deeds readily perceivable by all.
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