Another insightful extract from the book Everyday Psychology, By Dr Steve Edwards:
“The great tragedies of history occur not when the right confronts wrong, but when two rights confront each other .” — Henry Kissinger.
Dr Edwards comments: It is a fact that in disagreements, arguments and war, opposing partners are characteristically correct in terms of their own perceptions, principles, ideologies, etc. yet incorrect in terms of not being prepared for consensus, dialogue, compromise and negotiation. Argument and debate are the bases for our legal systems, Hegelian dialectic and Marxist dialectical materialism.
Their value lies in opposition, clash and conflict. As Edward de Bono points out, society has learnt to think in such ways. instead, more empathy, constructive dialogue, external triangulation and creative thinking are required.
As Jacques Cousteau said: If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope and we can work.”
FEATURED IMAGE: Henry Kissinger was the US secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and its national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. In this image, President Gerald Ford, the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Kissinger are speaking informally on the tarmac at Vozdvizhenka Airport at the conclusion of the Vladivostok Summit in 1974. shortly afterwards, President Ford gave Brezhnev his fur coat. Thomas J. O’Halloran, US Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division / Wikipedia.