Lessons in Critical Thinking (9 of 12)

“But” means . . .

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “Well, I really did not mean to do what I did, but something just told me to do it”? Someone suggested this adage, “‘But’ means I take back everything I just said.” In other words, whenever a “but” is placed in the statement, the part before the statement is not to be believed, and the part after the statement is to be believed. A good example is often seen in a half-hearted apology, “I am sorry I said what I said, but I just did not know what came over me.” In other words, “I really meant what I said I am sorry you caught me saying it.”

This brings us to this whole thing of apologies. When we are caught doing something and we know we must apologize, do we apologize for the wrong we committed or that we got caught committing a wrong? And as someone once noted, how often do we force our children to lie? When one child hurts another, we tell them to “Say you’re sorry.” What if they really are not sorry? Of course we understand the importance of confession and absolution and teaching this to our children. Do we also understand the importance of contrition?

Critical thinking means critical listening. Critical thinking does not necessarily mean criticism. It simply means taking care in listening not only to the words that are said, but to the order of the words, to the inference of the words, as well as the meanings of the words. Critical thinking means to listen. Sometimes it means asking questions, getting definitions of words, making sure we are understanding what is being said, in our own language. Sometimes it may even mean defining terms in order to better understand. That may be a lot of work, but it is well worth it!