Day 25: Assuming
Assumptions. We all make them, and I'm sure we all know the saying. "When you assume you simply make an ass out of 'u' and me." And most of the time that is correct, especially when it is regarding a situation that you don't have all the information about.
I made one of those assumptions the other day, not about anything big or in a way that caused a lot of drama, but it is a little embarrassing when you make an assumption only to prove yourself wrong in the next couple of minutes. It's not really a big deal, but it got me thinking. How often do we act like we know exactly what's going on when we only see a situation through a keyhole? And as I just mentioned I do it too, so I'm not accusing anyone or using this as an indirect attack on anyone. It's just something I've been thinking about a little bit.
But as humans, I think we have some idea in our head that if we don't know everything we are somehow less than everyone else. So to combat this, we make ourselves sound like the expert on every subject that comes up in some effort to make ourselves look good for others. I'm not sure the exact motivation behind it for other people, so I guess it's a little bit of an assumption (how's that for irony?). But I know that was a motivation for me when I went through a phase of this a while back, so I don't think it's too big of an assumption to say other people feel the same way. I used to pretend that I knew what people were talking about even if I had no clue, simply to avoid the embarrassment of being the odd man out. But now, I've gotten to the point where I realize how important it is to admit one's lack of knowledge in a subject no matter what level of embarrassment it will bring.
I probably got sidetracked on a rabbit trail somewhere in there, so I'll summarize here. I believe that people will be more impressed by someone who is willing to admit a lack of understanding than by someone who always knows, but is really just a faker attempting to show off how much they "know" in an effort for acceptance. And that's why I will readily admit when I don't have a clue what the hell is going on.
[If you don't understand the choice of imagery for this post, it's supposed to be playing off the assumption that the phone is clear and that's the person's hand :)]