Author: Neil Hanson

Yet another in a series of posts on the notion of ambiguity. Last time I talked about the fact that navigating ambiguity is really a matter of maturity of our ability to think critically and solve problems.

As much as anything else, I suppose it’s a confidence thing. When we’re confident in our ability to think critically and gain understanding, we welcome opportunities to use those skills.

On the other hand, when we lack that confidence, we only want to face easy problems. For anything that requires real thinking and independent reasoning, we prefer to have someone tell us what it is we’re supposed to think.

I see it nearly every day in people I talk to. Have any discussion of politics, and you’ll immediately hear people spouting the “party line” and the propaganda from whatever brand of faux news they listen to. Challenge them a little – ask some hard questions – and most folks start to splutter and spit. They don’t feel confident in their ability to arrive at an independent opinion – they need their opinion shaped for them.

We all complain about how polarized our country has become over the past 30 years, with everyone becoming more extreme. In my opinion, that’s 100% a result of the kind of “news” programming people watch on TV or listen to on the radio. They plug themselves into a propaganda machine, and drink the Koolaid. I believe that if we all shut the media off and refused to allow ourselves to be the sheep they want, we’d find that we’re not nearly as polarized as we’re led to believe.

Give it a test drive. For 90 days, refuse to consume any “news” or opinion programming on radio or TV. Refuse to read the OpEd page. Just talk to people, and discuss what’s going on. Talk to people with new and different opinions than your own. After 90 days, I give you a money-back guarantee that you’ll find you are far less in lockstep with whatever brand of propaganda you consumed before.

Disclaimer: All opinions are those of the author. 🙂

Ambiguity.

Every day we’re faced with it. Some of us deal with it well, some not so much.

A friend and I discussed this not long ago, after I started a series of postings on the subject. We both agreed that for most folks, we get better at dealing with ambiguity as we move through life.

Each step along most chosen paths in life presents problems – problems we learn to navigate through improving critical thinking skills. The better our critical thinking skills become, the better we are at moving through problem-solving mazes.

And at the end of the day, ambiguity is generally just one of those problem-solving mazes to navigate.  When things seem gray or fuzzy, it’s generally not for a lack of information – quite the opposite. The more information we have, the more ambiguous a situation can often become. With strong analytical and critical thinking skills, we’re better able to navigate those mazes, and make peace and reason out of ambiguity.

It’s interesting to me to notice all the things about “aging” that are actually an advantage. I wrote recently about the art of aging finely, and I’m often surprised to find just how many things in life we get better at as we move along the timeline. Maybe all of us don’t get better, but we certainly have the opportunity to get better. Some just seize the opportunity better than others do.

Seize this one – look for those little moments of ambiguity that surround you, and explore them honestly.

Peggy and I watched a young family with amusement the other day. The dad sat the girl down in a chair at our local Panera, with a plate of pastries in the middle of the table. He sternly admonished her, “Don’t touch anything on that plate yet.” He made sure she said yes, that she understood. Then dad went back to the counter, to help mom with the rest of the order.

He was only gone for a couple minutes, and the little girl never took her eyes off those delicious looking pastries. There was real longing in her eyes. After 10 or 15 seconds, she slowly reached her hands toward the plate that held the pastries, touched the edge of the plate with her fingertips, and quickly Continue reading “Don’t Touch the Pastries”