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The Other Side of Arrogance
Have you ever met someone and instantly felt you did not like them?
Perhaps there was something about the way they were dressed, something they said on a bad day, or their tone of voice. Maybe they didn’t smile at you the right way or remember your name when you introduced yourself.
Like confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories can cloud our views of reality, arrogance can also take us out of the game of understanding. What we think we know is not always so.
Have you ever talked to someone and noticed how they were actively waiting for you to finish? Even before you had a chance to get your ideas across. It is as if the person knows exactly every thought, idea, or sentence you plan on sharing, and they do not have time to hear it. All of us are guilty of not listening sometimes. We listen to others so we can sprinkle our own viewpoints into the mix, sometimes cutting them off just to spew out our own ideas.
I’ve noticed how many opinions I have of people from my own family to my neighbors, to the people in my community, and co-workers. I…