Glib, Glory, and Growth

I used to love debate and discourse for many reasons:
stimulation of mind, pressure on my weakest areas of discussion and knowledge,
and improved social aptitude.

But then I realized how little attention is given to the topics at hand.

It's always just a social game, one with the aim of winning whatever arbitrary significance there is to being a #winner,
one often filled with bitterness and fear of defeat.

It is most often some sense of validation sought by these people.

They must be right, for whoever believes themselves to be wrong?

It's pathetic, whatever it is.

I want to learn.
I want dearly to know what I do not understand and what I could know better,
to fill my gaps of knowledge.

I seek to grow, and the pains of realizing your misjudgments are worth every moment.

But to grow, you must also put forth,
you must throw your misjudgments into the fray to see how they stand.

You must be sharp enough to catch your peer's intentions.

And you must be wise enough to open your mind to your own faults without losing confidence.

You'll find your peers become plebeians,
your ideas whole,
and your thoughts tempered.

Depending on your assertiveness and other qualities,
you will at once be seen as egotistical,
perplexing,
brazen,
individual,
infuriating,
or perhaps other such characteristics that should not so quickly develop.

You will find fulfilling conversations to be rare and inimitable.

The perceived repercussions of your ideas facing social hostility in an age of global connectivity can leave one craven to say even a word.

But your misjudgments will remain so, so long as you keep them to yourself.

You must subject yourself to the pains of realization, of full self-awareness.

As you do so, you grow.

As you grow, you form judgments of the world, ones that are truly your own,
unshakable by way of wisdom rather than mere conviction.

Your presence and participation in the lives of others will naturally and passively invoke in others moments of genuine reconsideration,
moments of openness.

Rare moments.

Often ones that change a person's life.

This is invaluable.

- Taber