Learning is more Important than Winning.

  Who would want to partake in the bitterness of debate? No one in his right mind would want to. But when you breathe and live with the truth, you have a strong tendency not to tolerate injustice and ignorance. That is why it is hard, almost impossible, to avoid an argument. And there are times when even a simple, friendly conversation suddenly turns into a wild skirmish of logic, experience, wit, and pride. Some of my worst experiences occur during debates because I lose control of my pride in these situations. And when I am governed by pride, when I play to win, I am in my worst state. In this condition, my thrusts are harsher, more cruel, and emotionally damaging. That is why after the argument, even if I had won, I felt exhausted, sad, and guilty; my cerebral victory was very much outweighed by my emotional anguish. Winning, indeed, isn’t everything; learning is.

"A good answer is like a kiss on the lips; make wisdom your sister" (more or less) are words from the Bible in The Book of Proverbs. This commandment has never left me since I first read these lines, and I have never let it go. That is why, usually, if I have a choice, I will only engage in a debate in search for the truth, in order to learn, to teach, to emphasize a point, and to stand for something I believe in. In reality, debate is a very productive activity when engaged in by sober, temperate, dear-headed, restrained people. There can be nothing sweeter than winning and making an opponent (who is a total stranger) understand and believe your point in a debate. And I am proud to point out that I have done this a couple of times, and I can still recall the sweetness of its taste.

 

Modesty aside, I consider myself an inborn debater. I was blessed with above average intelligence. Even when I was young, immature, and only had limited knowledge, I debated with people who were mostly my seniors and won. At that time, my ideas were twisted and most of the time just based on common facts, mental speculations, and sentiments, but somehow I knew how to use them to my advantage to win an argument.

When you have something inherent, it becomes so natural and familiar that you do not even notice that you have it. I bringing this up because I noticed that some people are so fond of debate, as if they are addicted to it. Some of these augmentative warriors just wanted to argue regardless of the issue, situation, and emotional state of their opponent. They are what I call intellectual aficionados, who find happiness in the thought that they are superior and all-knowing. They are nothing but low-class debaters if they are not pretenders. There must be some valid reasons for their existence, but to me, they are fools posing as wise. Moreover, they debate to win and engage in senseless discussion regardless of how senseless and absurd their points are. They do not care whether they are right or wrong. Sadly, these kinds of people are a disgrace to the art of debate, and debating with them is a waste of time and tiresome experience.


Why fight for something you don’t believe just for the sake of winning? The greatest debater I know was found and branded ignorant by his teacher and was instructed to stop such a useless activity. Understandably, he obediently followed the instructions and thereby found real happiness. And by his example, he showed us that there is more to life than winning a debate and having so-called superior intelligence. By: PenSword