Would you rather be rescued by criticism or be wrecked by praise? Well, Norman Vincent Peale has a perfect response to this question, and I’m in total agreement with it. He says, “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than being saved by criticism…” If I may give a succinct explanation, I would say the word ‘trouble’ indicates that there’s no good in allowing someone to praise us now then later everything crashes. It could also mean that many of us allow our ears to go in the malfunctioning mode when it comes to criticism, and after thinking all is well, we are attacked by regrets.
I believe many of us have too much of a ‘greedy appetite’ for praises and none whatsoever for criticism, constructive criticism. Sometimes we are told that it is wrong and it could have been done otherwise but instead of accepting the criticism and make things better, we see the individual as an enemy. Proverbs 15:1 says, ” If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise”. It simply means then that if we do not listen, we’ll be among the fools.
We need to realize that to be praised does not necessarily mean all is well; the enemies are out there and would rather praise and then sink us. They know we love to hear that we are doing a great job or we are doing well, at all times. We’ll then accept whatever they say and then fall right into their trap, a trap that could jolly well ruin our lives for a long time.
Since no one is perfect then undoubtedly, no one will get everything right. Praises are good but not from everyone who gives it. Let’s be mindful of these things so that we can be rescued now and not be wrecked later.
So then, if we intend to praise someone, please let’s do so genuinely.
Likewise, if we’re desirous of helping to fix their shortcomings, to give criticisms, let’s do so constructively.