Why Do We Always Try and Point Out Other Peoples’ Mistakes?

Before I hop into this, I just want to preface this with there are ZERO hard-feelings or animosity or ANYTHING of the sort toward the commenters that inspired this article. In fact, I appreciate the fact that didn't just scroll by, but even cared enough to look at what was posted, let alone actually comment.

That said, yesterday I posted an article outlining a black bear being caught on a game camera positioned in a Dover, New Hampshire resident's backyard. The article was inspired by the post (and photo) that was posted in the The (un)Official City of Dover, NH Facebook page THAT MORNING, which would lead someone to think it's current, right?

But in the picture above that accompanied the article -- look at the date at the bottom of the screen. The year shows up as 2020, and clearly we're out of the dumpster fire that was 2020 and into the year 2021 right now. Which, the commenters referenced above decided to point out.

And like I said, no hard feelings, I appreciate them even caring enough to actually look at the post. But it got me thinking -- why do we, ALL OF US (myself included), as a society feel the need to point out someone's faults? The timing of this is interesting, considering this was a topic on my show either last week or the week before (they all honestly kinda blend together.)

So what if the picture was from the year 2020? So what if it was from 1920? The headline/point of the article remains the same -- "Holy crap an actual black bear was in someone's backyard! How wild is that? Make sure you mind your pets and yourself to remain safe!"

But it dawned on me -- we ALL do this SO much. Every single day. ESPECIALLY with social media. Someone posts an opinion, we have to rip it apart. We watch a TV show (moreso like a reality show like something on the Food Network or whatever) and immediately we're culinary geniuses that could've done it better. Or we watch a trivia show, someone tosses out a silly guess and immediately they're idiots and we could do it better.

Granted, the TV show example at least doesn't tear people down, because it's not like they can hear what you're saying to the TV. But on social media? That's heard (read) loud and clear. And it can literally be for anything -- an opinion someone has, maybe posting a project they're super proud of that someone points out faults with, anything and everything.

And WHY? What good does it bring? Does it help the person receiving the statement at all? Does it help the person dropping the statement feel better? Because I guarantee you if they need to try and drag someone else down so they can feel higher, they're not genuinely happy. And especially with the pandemic, it's super tough to be genuinely happy right now.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what my point is outside of I don't understand why we decide to waste our energy trying to tear someone down or point out someone's mistakes or diminish any kind of win they get, because it does NOBODY any good.

You know what does? Building someone up. Hyping up the progress they've made with a project. COMPLIMENTING THEM. Not to be all corny and drop the ole "you attract more bees with honey" line, but seriously. Try it sometime. Give a compliment to someone about something -- even if you don't agree.

If someone posts a picture of a painting or drawing they sketched and you think it's meh, they don't need to know that's what you fully think. And you can say BuT i'M jUsT hOnEsT aNd TeLl iT LiKe It Is all you want, but that does NOTHING but make YOU look like a jerk and make the person you're talking to feel like a piece of garbage. So, instead of being that blunt, either don't say anything at all or maybe pick out something that looks good.

For example, if they paint a picture of the jungle or something and it generally doesn't look like a bunch of forestry, but like someone sneezed a bunch of nose grossness onto a canvas, pick out the ONE thing that looks good! "Oh wow, that zebra looks awesome and really stands out!"

Because I guarantee -- you give a compliment, not only will that other person feel genuine joy, but YOU will too based on the genuine reaction you see on their face. And if it's on social media, you'll know the joy you gave them when they react with a "heart" reaction on Facebook, or a "THANK YOU SO MUCH!" comment in response.

We're allowed to see the world differently -- it's what makes us, us and what makes us all unique. But just because we don't see things the same way as someone else, doesn't mean that we have to rip them apart for it.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox and appreciate you making it all the way through this if you did. And again, to the commenters that motivated me to write this, NO hard feelings, I wasn't upset, I'm not attacking you, and I really DO appreciate you taking the time to care enough to comment.

But let's all just start trying to be awesome to each other and build each other up instead of just shooting down and criticizing every single move we all make. And now I'll shut up and go hug a tree or something.