Part of growing up is deciding how we will act when we are proven wrong. 

And we will be proven wrong many times in our lives, like I was, with the pokeberries (Health article). 

Many doctors in the 1800s hated Dr. Semmelweis and Dr. Lister for claiming that their unwashed hands killed new mothers. But those doubting-doctors were proven wrong (STEM article). 

Every home-invader that gets shot in the house they were trying to rob, is proven wrong. 

They thought they could rob someone without resistance. Not always.

Every arrested drunk driver that thought he can get home without being pulled-over, was proven wrong. 

The list goes on and on. Being wrong does happen. 

What will you do WHEN you are proven wrong?  You will find out what kind of adult you are by: 

1) What you were proven wrong about. 

2) How you handled the news that you were wrong. 

But before we get into this, some of you young readers already know what it’s like to be told you're always wrong, 

and you’re treated like you are the blame for the all problems in the family. 

We will talk about this is the ‘Family Life’ section in the article ‘Always to Blame’. 

So, about being wrong? 

Every red check on a test paper is a 'wrong'.  

Every strike in baseball is a 'wrong' for the batter, but a 'good job' for the pitcher.

Even the first assembly for summer camp is an orientation, which is a nice way of saying, 

“You don’t know what you’re doing, so we will tell you our expectations, so you will do fewer things wrong.” 

Yes, friend, orientations are aimed at reducing the number of wrongs we will commit. 

Some people get real huffy when told they are doing something wrong. 

(It can be easy to get huffy, if the person is huffy when they tell us.) 

Many people are insulted when corrected, because they want to believe they are always right. 

The opposite of this? The people who will gladly take the blame for everything, even when they are right, 

just to keep the peace. 

There are times I was glad to be proven wrong. When something kept going wrong in a building project, then someone said, “You should do this first, then that, and then this again.” It worked, and I was happy to be proven wrong. 

I understand that there are a lot of things I don’t know, and if a person knows enough (to have the right to correct me), 

tells me respectfully, I am still a pretty good learner. 

Eric J. Rose 

middlegrademysteries.com 

photo: intellectualtakeout.org