How to Give Great Feedback

In exactly 19 words

The Christian Dirce by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1897 (public domain - Google Arts & Culture)

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1838

Last week, my younger son turned 18.

I had never noticed this before — perhaps I’m more pensive these days, with my son graduating and turning 18 — but he shares a birthday with Ralph Waldo Emerson.

So when I saw Emerson’s journal entry for November 8, 1838, I paid attention:

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. No man, I think, had ever a greater well-being with a less desert than I. I can very well afford to be accounted bad or foolish by a few dozen or a few hundred persons, I who see myself greeted by the good expectation of so many friends far beyond any power of thought or communication of thought residing in me. Besides, I own, I am often inclined to take part with those who say I am bad or foolish…