31. A Connoisseur
of Criticism
The next day I presented “When Even the Voices are Hungover,”
the first in a series of ten trainings on helping people deal with both mental
illness and addiction. Some people came
to that training because they were interested in the topic. A few people came to all my trainings. They
were like old friends and I looked forward to seeing them. Others attended
because they needed the credits to maintain a license.
The woman sitting in the back, arms crossed, scowl on her
face, angry before I even spoke, was part of a fourth group. She was required to take the training,
resented it, and had decided to vent her anger on me.
Early in my career I would have worked hard to make her happy. Instead I smiled at her and went on with my
training.
Over the years I had become a connoisseur of criticism. There was the truly constructive criticism
from people who wanted to help me do better.
I was grateful for them. Other criticism was competitive, a desire to be
‘one up’ on the trainer. This criticism
I put to good use, knowing competitive criticism was often accurate. The
last thing the competitive critic wanted was to be proven wrong.
Any criticism I might get from the scowling lady would be
more about her issues than mine. I would
read her evaluation, but not take it to heart.
Today I will be a connoisseur of criticism.
Needles Not For Knitting is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the
characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.
Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2017 by Ken
Montrose
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