“I was wrong”. There are no other three words deserving as much respect in my eyes. The courage to question one’s own pre-existing beliefs and honesty it takes to admit own mistakes are signs of decency and dignity. Anyone saying “I was wrong” is being humble, and thoughtful, and vulnerable. Anyone saying “I was wrong” is a friend of mine.

The world demands you to be consistent, but accept any agenda du jour at the same time. You hear them shouting “What a hypocrite! He used to say ‘A’, and now she says ‘B’!” in your left ear and “She says A when everyone knows it’s B! What a moron” in your right ear. The only natural way to satisfy this self-contradictory demand without hardcore mental gymnastics is to stay quiet and lie low. If you have no opinion, if you have nothing say, if you just shut up, smile and nod, you can never be the bad guy, you can never be wrong. Or, you can join the crowd and shout along. Sorry, it’s not an option.

Many people are afraid to speak up because they don’t want to be ashamed, they fear judgement. The spirit of modern internet discussion, where any mild disagreement easily spirals down to a fight where the loudest side wins, discourages opinions. Repeating the same simple idea as everyone around you is not an opinion, even if written it in CAPS.

I want the opposite of that. I want an environment where people dare to be wrong. I want myself to stand respectfully corrected when I’m mistaken, or at least heard, or at least not shout at, but I know I’m asking for too much.

Now, after some time since I started this stand-alone blog, I realized why it feels so good writing here. This is the safe space for me, a place where I can be myself, where I can hear myself. If it means I don’t get a chance to be heard by millions of X, BS, FB, or IG users, so be it. They wouldn’t listen anyway — they are busy raging and posing.

Being wrong is not the same as being harmful. One can easily have the most rightful idea and act pure evil in its name. Just as often, people do right things for wrong reasons, and when they do, we should encourage it. Ideas, thoughts and reasons should be open to be spoken, challenged, defended, reflected upon and changed. Actions and their outcomes are the ultimate measure of right and wrong.

We should normalize being wrong. Support people who were wrong and admit that, and cheer people who are wrong but open to change their mind. People who are fanatically right do not deserve this praise. They are right by pure accident.

Being right is overrated, and staying consistent is barely a virtue. Stay true, it’s what matters. Any curious, open-minded person capable of challenging common beliefs is bound to occasionally be terribly wrong, and it’s a small price to pay for the chance of them being right and the whole world being wrong.