Follow the facts, not the script
Mark Von Holden/WireImage
For 40 years, I’ve lived in a world where I don’t get to choose who walks into the room to care for my wife. Nurses. Surgeons. Specialists. People from every background and belief system.
I’ve seen medical professionals wearing pronouns on their badges. While I inwardly sighed and questioned the scientific judgment of someone who touts that, Gracie still needed care.
And in that moment, my irritation didn’t get a vote. So I did what caregivers learn to do.
I stuck out my hand and engaged. I listened, observed, and learned to separate what I felt about a person from what I could clearly see in front of me.
A serious person is obligated to be even-handed, even when he doesn’t like someone or disagrees with him.
The next time you hear something good about someone you can’t stand, ask yourself a simple question: Could this be objectively true, even though I don’t like this person?
You don’t have to change your vote or your convictions, but you do have to decide whether you’re going to follow the facts or protect a script.
In the real world, where people actually depend on you, clinging to a preferred script isn’t just lazy, it can be very costly.
If you’re willing to set that script aside, even for a moment, you might find something better than being right.
You might find clarity. And in a world this loud, that’s no small thing.
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