Addiction to Being Right

It's election time again which means the media is going crazy looking for stuff to report on that makes somebody look stupid and wrong - either side will do.  I don't blame the media because it the way politics works these days which in turn in a reflection of how the whole culture functions.

I talk to enough people on a daily basis that are trying hard to correct their thinking so that they can have some peace of mind and peace with other people to notice how pervasively we all seem to work at "being right."  Most of the stuff they talk about is how somebody else is wrong and how pissed off they are about it.  I'm almost always completely amazed by how ridiculous their stories are.  They guess at what other people's motives are and get mad at what they guessed.  The behavior they report is usually neutral unless the motive for it is part of it.  Plus they are not actually impacted by the behavior at all.  They're just mad because the person is "wrong."  Totally goofy.  The whole thing deserved no attention whatever. 

I'm just guessing, but it seems likely to me that when we're feeling bad about ourselves, we look around for someone who's "wrong" and that makes us feel better - eventually leading to a deep seated addiction to taking offense at things that are completely unimportant because it makes us feel "right."

What I'm doing about my own tendency to do this is to use the 10th Step to root out anything I'm kicking myself for and doing what I can to correct it with the help of God.  Then I try to turn my attention to enjoyable and wonderful things.  Right now I am reading a poem every day and reading about poetry.  I used to write poetry all the time and I'm going to start writing in a few days.  This is a lot more entertaining than wondering if I should get mad at somebody for something.