Negative criticism: Its swath of destruction and what to do about it

"It is a little after midnight. You have just come out of the last show at the movie. To save a block you cut through a dark alley. Halfway through it--just as you are beginning to relax--two men step out of the shadows. You hear a nasty metallic snick and suddenly there is the glint of knife blades in the feeble light.

What would you do?

I know what I would do.

Quickly I'd turn and throw a fearful look back up the alley. It is clear and free. A surge of adrenalin sends the blood pumping to my legs. Getting out of that alley I set a new indoor Olympic sprint record. The jogger in me has never seen such speed. Nothing seems sweeter than the glare of street lights and the chatter of people making their way to their cars. I look for a police officer and tell my story.

That is what everybody would do in such a situation, right?

But let me play you another version. The scene is the same. The two hulking men are coming at you with knives. But you keep strolling casually on to meet them. You throw up your arms and say, 'I'm all yours. Let me feel the steel. I know it will help me in the long run.'

They oblige by savagely thrusting the knives deep into your defenseless belly. You fall to the pavement writhing with pain. The men stand over you. You roll onto your stomach and gasp, 'You'd better give me a couple in the back, too.'

Ridiculous?

Of course, but it is exactly what thousands upon thousands of us do each and every day by failing to recognize that the knives of negative criticism which people stick in us are just as sharp and deadly as those made of steel and borne by assassins." (p. 9)