Many years ago, I had a friend who tended to split things into either Good Thing or Bad Thing.
This went not just for things/ideas, but also for people.
And because they split the world into these categories, they also assumed that everyone else split the world the same way: there was no room for shades of grey, in their worldview.
On one memorable occasion, they posted about a very ambitious home renovation project; I suggested they take a carpentry class at Home Depot before jumping into the project, and they accused me (and everyone else who commented on the post) of being a malicious saboteur of their projects, and ended the screed with “Do you think I’m smart and competent, or do you think I’m an octopus wearing a hat?”
Friends: there is a lot of daylight between those two things.
I think about that conversation whenever I am tempted to split the world into black and white, good and bad, yin and yang. (Okay, maybe not that last.) It’s possible to receive criticism without assuming the critic hates you and thinks you’re wholly incompetent.
Emilybook 