Criticism and resentment…

This time, I propose to talk about criticism. You are supposed to ask me why I bother
with this issue. Yes, sir, I would like to answer by questioning you: How many times have
you received criticism from others in your life? Likewise, how many times have you
criticized others? I guess-this is only a guess but I am quite sure-almost of you will say
“many” or even “countless”. It proves that the issues around criticism are worth our care.
Have you heard about critical thinking? I hope not ;)). It can be quite popular in the
world, I mean, western society. However, in Vietnam, we don’t bear it in mind. We like to
be the same and belong to the majority of our community. The concept of being different
is nearly similar to that of being odd, eccentric and stupid. Here I want to cite a
Vietnamese idiom as a proof of what I have claimed (I put it in its own Vietnamese word
but not try uselessly to translate it into English): “Xấu đều hơn tốt lỏi”. Vietnamese
people, therefore, avoid criticizing others. Additionally, Vietnamese society is where
people respect and live on relationships with people surrounding. Criticism has appeared
in the past but I think it was killed violently thereafter. Almost of Vietnamese people
traditionally have been farmers, lived on occasional crops which could be damaged by
bad weather or other factors at any time. As a result, they had to support each other to
survive or would suffer and then certainly die of famine. If they criticized their neighbors
today, who would have helped them to get out of their hunger tomorrow?
There is something different you can see clearly if you go westward: everybody has been
trying hard to sharpen their critical thinking. They criticize others, who can be their
relatives, spouses, partners and obviously, their opponents or enemies, whenever they
find those people’s faults or mistakes. Why do they act like that? Originally, we should
trace to the past. They have been almost traders, not farmers as in Vietnam. In the process
of buying and selling things, they formed their mind as practical one. They had to fight
against each other to widen their places and strengthen their positions in the merciless
markets. One of the most effective methods to achieve that is to make use of their
antagonist’s faults made by chance. Criticism will kill the opponent and therefore, they
will take one higher step on the ladder of success. Man is greedy and what they want
seems to be uncountable. One of these wants, there is one thing which forces them to give
criticism: “the desire to be great” or “the desire to be important” because if they criticize
someone successfully, they win and those who are defeated accept to be lower in the rank
of importance. Blah blah…
Asking you “are you pleasant after criticizing someone?” you can say “No” but excuse
me, my answer is yes. While that person feels being discouraged and depressed, I am
delighted with my excellence. In case the fault influences directly my rights, criticism
given on that person will pass my anger and unhappiness away…
Is it really necessary? No, because it will bring me some undesirable repercussion.
According to my personal experiences, the common reaction to criticism is resentment.
Criticism usually arouses the people’s anger and negative response. Why’s that? Because
of the desire to be great, man is hard to accept criticisms, that means, to admit their
weaknesses or mistakes. People think that they are creatures of logic and intelligence.
Actually, it’s partially true; they are also creatures of emotion and motivated by pride and
vanity. Criticism destroys their beliefs in their greatness so they are likely to reject it
immediately…