THE BRIGHT SIDE By Professor Raymond Mosha
How much can we entertain ideas different from ours? How do we feel when someone comes up with ideas and opinions that do not fit our taste? To help us respond wisely to these questions, let us begin with a story told by the Spirituality Guru, Anthony de Mello.
He narrates that there was a preacher well known for his great homilies on Sundays. Everyone applauded him and appreciated his homilies. But there was this man who always criticised the preacher point by point, to the dismay of the other worshippers. He always voiced his disagreement with the preacher to the extent that other worshippers found him to be a nuisance in their church.
Then it happened that this critic passed away. Everyone was relieved, believing that the preacher could now have some peace of mind. To the surprise of the worshippers, the preacher was sad and clearly showed that he had lost a friend. He said to them: I am very sad to lose this man because he is the one who helped me to give good homilies by his unrelenting criticism of my thoughts. His different way of thinking awakened me to higher thoughts and ideas. I really miss him.
That preacher is a good leader. He can entertain different opinions and learn from them. That is what is asked of all of us: to cherish opposition ideas because that is the only way to improve our own thinking and being. We need opposition ideas in our families, communities, organisations, and in our governments.
We in this continent seem to dislike opposition ideas, especially in government bodies and other organisations. We witness people with different ideas being disliked, sidelined, and even harmed. This dislike and disapproval of opposition ideas is one that hinders development. Like the preacher, we need opposition ideas so that we can grow in our thought patterns and philosophies.
The reason is simple. None of us knows everything. It is wise to realise that what we know is a tiny fraction of that which we do not know. It is wise to realise how little we know and how much we need to learn from others. American activist Noam Chomsky says: If we do not believe in the freedom of thought of our competitors, then we do not believe in the freedom of thought at all.
There cannot be any significant development anywhere without freedom of thought.
Prof. Raymond S. Mosha
(+255) 769 417 886 | rmosha@depaul.edu
