Finding Fault

My days of whining and complaining about others have come to an end.
Nothing is easier than fault-finding.  All it will do is discolor my personality
so that none will want to associate with me.  That was my old life.  No more.

Og Mandino


It's so incredibly easy to find fault with others, especially since our society has developed into one in which we value criticism more than we value praise or encouragement.  But fault-finding helps almost no one at all--and in fact hurts more people than we can really imagine, including ourselves.  We were not placed on this planet in order to find problems with other people--we were put here to have the chance to become the best people we possibly can be, and that means making sure that we're improving ourselves, not trying to make others conform to our ideas of what should be.

Some of us have jobs that require us to find faults.  I taught writing for many years, and it was very important that I point out what kinds of mistakes students were making.  But it was also very important for me to model the more effective ways of doing things, and to give them feedback that told them when they were improving.  But for the most part, we're not here to point out other people's faults just to make ourselves feel a tiny bit better for a very short time.  We'll be much more effective in making this world a better place and ourselves better people if we stick to encouragement and praise of others.  There already are plenty of people who find fault all the time.  We don't need to be a part of that group--it doesn't help us to make our lives better even in the slightest.