Innuendos of Criticism

Being the humans that we are, we all have flaws. No matter how much some of us might deny it, our characters are littered with shortcomings – some more outstanding than others. It is quite okay to point them out in the hopes of mitigating them, but there is always the right time, venue and way to do it. It’s a wonder though, that there are still some of us that do not understand or at least employ this idea. Isn’t this a standard part in educated human interaction?

Criticism is simply not part of those human attributes that we are good at expressing or delivering. In itself, criticism is a neutral thing. Take way aspects of ulterior motives, emotional implications and improper interaction: pointing someone’s flaws is a vital part of our daily lives. The only problem is, we’re never objective beings to begin with and often we find ourselves victim to social and behavioral innuendos.

This problem of not knowing when, where and how to point out something whether good or bad to a person has always been there. This has caused misunderstandings, clash of personalities and even fights, albeit verbal. It often have the ugly side effect of back stabbing, getting even and couple it with some form of politics – you have yourself a very nasty case of human cruelty towards each other.

So how do we avoid becoming socially barbaric?

There are experts on this matter that would say it requires patience, understanding of the people involved and knowing how to properly deliver. Maybe it involves experience or some learned soft skill but one of the key is to simply think before saying or reacting.

Easier said than done!

If we only learn to control ourselves and be able to compose our thoughts properly before actually spewing out the words – the world would be quite civilized. It would be a strange world though since we’re not quite used to that.

We should start learning the things around us, the people we’re talking to and proper way to interact with them. It’s not just the things that are right in front of us but even the background information that needs to be considered. These are things like cultural differences, emotional state of everyone involved, and the implications that would reverberate afterwards. It’s actually quite a lot, but it is part of being socially educated. With the leaps and bounds of things – this is a skill that one needs to continually struggle and improve upon. These things you develop over time and through either experiencing it or seeing it firsthand.

There is one very simple tip though: take a breath before saying anything!

Sometimes we just need a little pause for our brain to process the whole thing. This very simple gesture is sometimes enough break for us to understand the situation and properly compose the right ideas and thoughts. Sometimes all we need is a little pause for us to see things a lot clearer.

Improving the way we act around each other doesn’t happen overnight. It is in fact a continuing effort that we all must learn and go through. It is only humane to do so.