Classic example?  An automobile accident.  It is little solace in a collision that you, in fact, had the right of way.

I use this phrase all the time to persuade others to a reasonable course of action.  "Of course, you are right but sometimes being right is not relevant."  Sometimes being right can hurt you, like failing to yield in a dangerous situation even if you have the right of way.

 I remember riding in a car at a very young age with my Uncle Bob and my namesake, Aunt Margaret.  Years later, Aunt Margaret loved to tell this story:  Uncle Bob said to me, "Peggy, would you roll down the window a couple inches please?"  (Remember roll up windows in cars?)  My little curley haired head snapped right around from gazing out the window.  "Well, Uncle Bob, exactly how much is a couple inches?  Is it two inches or four?  Uncle Bob, could you please be more precise?"

 My ire grew as the adults roared in laughter.  There you have it at a very young age, the core of my being.  The need to structure my world in an orderly way.  This is a dichotomy to my rational mind that knows: sometimes being right is irrelevant.

 Even more than our need to be right is our need for others to be wrong.  In this tough real estate market, we hear and talk about celebrities and even real estate professionals caught in a bad situation and foreclosures.  Why do we do this?

 It is not an intent to be unkind or idle gossip.  It is a form of shamanism.  If we can just figure out what THEY did wrong, we can avoid it and it won't happen to US.  But perhaps they did nothing wrong.  Perhaps it could happen to us.  And in this topsy turvy market, what is right one week is wrong the next. 

 This is difficult to accept.  We need to analyze and make sense of this market, to be right, to structure our world in an orderly way.

 If you have not already done so, please go and read Liz Moras' excellent blog post "If You're Right - Does that Mean Somebody Has to Be Wrong?", (Liz's Blog)

which was a source of inspiration for this riff on the topic.  Listen to the Joss Stone video.  I cannot close with a better line than hers: "Do you have the grace to leave them with dignity?"