A great many people Share a problem with a close friend or a casual acquaintance, and you are likely to receive a solution about how to deal with it. The solution will often be presented in a definitive and possibly even forceful manner. It will be packaged as just the right way to handle the problem. Your discussion partners may present cases in which other people resolved similar issues. You might be expected to assume that your situation will match theirs, and that the best thing to do is to follow those recommendations.
This is often unfortunate. These solutions and recommendations omit one important aspect.
Thought.
Many people don't bother thinking any more. Few people look into the pros and cons of a situation. Nobody considers its long-term ramifications. Nobody tries to understand if the solution matches the problem.
On the other hand, many people are all too quick to offer advice to others. This is unfortunate, sad, and all too often, counter-productive or dangerous.
What the world needs today is people who will think, who will work on a problem and who will come up with a reasonable and good solution.
This section suggests and recommends that you and others should give more thought to issues, instead of following the current trend of giving quick answers.
Yes, you may be surrounded by idiots, but you can choose whether to follow them blindly, or whether to use your head in order to find a better way.
think
they are thinking
when they are merely
rearranging
their prejudices.
- William James
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