The Danger of a one-sided Story

Every story has two sides. For any critical thinker, hearing both sides will help you make an informed judgement about issues. An employee will complain about a mean boss leaving out the fact that he/she has not been meeting his/her targets for the past nine months yet their salary is paid on time and in full. A parent will lament about her child who is not performing in school yet she ignores the teachers’ requests for her to help the child with homework. A citizen in Uganda will complain about bad roads in the city yet they have evading taxes for the past seventeen years of their life. A man will complain about his wife being indifferent about finances yet he never discloses his income.

“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it” is a quote by Winston Churchill that highlights the importance of of winning because you keep your own legacy. People choose what they say or not say about you but you should never be a passive participator in your own story.

A client once said, “Sudesh didn’t do a good job. He let so many things slide on the project”. What my dear client left out was: she was late for fifty percent of the meetings. She did not implement any of the things that I suggested. And she never paid me for my services after numerous reminders.

Martin was the first apprentice at OMEGA Industries, a large manufacturing company in the outskirts of Mexico City. He worked eighteen hour shifts for seven years straight. His wife and kids left him during the time. His life was all about serving his boss. When he left the factory his boss lamented about his lack of loyalty.

In May 1937, Adolf Hitler’s party founded a state-owned company that was later named Volkswagen, or ‘The People’s Car Company’. Hitler himself asked Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the Porsche car company, to design it. He wanted to create affordable cars. All you know about him is the holocaust.

Saddam had a very shitty human rights record. He had committed genocide by killing thousands of innocents in the Kurdish province. But he was a very big champion of education. Primary school enrollment was 100%, and he had started a literacy program in Iraq, aimed at making the whole population literate.

There is a danger in listening to one sided stories. They blind one from making sound judgment. As a critical thinker always remember that there is “cause and effect” It also take two to tangle.

Be wiser, seek for the full story!