Problem of Being Right

My heart moved in pain when I read the story of a Chinese boy that sold his kidney to buy an iPad2.

The story is here: http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/06/02/6772047-boy-sells-kidney-for-ipad-2

Just a 17 year boy did something I cannot even imagine that someone can actually go to such extent. What is it that made him do that? Curiosity? Covetousness? Greed? Was he mislead? Was he foolish? Childness? Or something else you may imagine?

Many times it is impossible to tell what exactly drew somebody to their decision to take certain action. Most of the arguments, I think, are a result of one single problem and it’s when both the parties try to prove they are correct. I call it a “Problem of Being Right”.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias asks a question in his book, Recapture the Wonder. Have you ever been absolutely certain that you placed something somewhere only to discover later that it was never there at all? It happens to us quite often. I tend to blame somebody else for misplacing something that I have lost. Even then I say, “I AM RIGHT”. They are the times I deliberately overlook the mistake I have made and jump in the “Problem of being Right”. Whenever there is an argument at least one party must be wrong in a given situation. There cannot be two opposite truths. Why then everyone thinks he is right. Have you ever been in the “Problem of Being Right”?

One young man came to the Master and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” He asked him to follow God’s commandments. The man said I have been doing it all my life. Then the teacher said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

We always want things to happen the way we want. We want to hear that pleases us. The young man went away, he thought he was right. When he sold the kidney, the Chinese boy, thought he was right.

King David said, “Who can notice every mistake? Forgive my hidden faults, Lord.” I should take care that I am not making the same mistake of portraying myself right or correct. At least when I am not, perhaps. If I fail to learn from my “Problem of Being Right” nobody can save me from the possible miseries ahead of it.