(Yes, I know it’s “You have another think coming,” I just wanted you to rage-open this email.)
So I’m reading Think Again by Adam Grant. I’ve not finished it yet, but that won’t stop me from writing about it and sharing my thoughts, nosiree.
The book is about how we can benefit from learning to question our first thoughts and previously held beliefs and be more open to the possibility that we are wrong—i.e. thinking again.
Sometimes, the ability to rethink and change our minds from our initial decisions could be life-saving.
Grant cites the fascinating and tragic story of the Mann Gulch wildfire in August 1949. A group of 15 smokejumpers—elite firefighters trained to battle wildfires—were flown in and began trying to put out the fire. The crew foreman was R. Wagner Dodge.
By 5:45 PM it was clear that even containing the fire was off the table. Realizing it was time to shift gears from fight to flight, Dodge immediately turned the crew around to run back up the slope.
The problem was that fire was traveling faster than the smokejumpers could run. What Dodge did next baffled his fellow team members.
Instead of trying to outrun the fire, he stopped and bent over. He took out a matchbook, started lighting matches, and threw them into the grass.
His crew thought that he had gone insane. With a fire raging at their backs, why was their leader lighting another fire?
What the smokejumpers didn’t realize was that Dodge had devised a survival strategy: he was building an escape fire. By burning the grass ahead of him, he cleared the area of fuel for the wildfire to feed on. He then poured water from his canteen on his handkerchief, covered his mouth with it, and lay facedown in the charred area for the next fifteen minutes. As the wildfire raged directly above him, he survived in the oxygen close to the ground.
When Dodge tried to beckon his crew members to join him, they turned and kept running. Tragically, 12 of the jumpers died that day.
Dodge was able to stop mid-panic and consider another way. He did something that he had never been taught in training, something that seemed completely absurd.
But it worked.
When faced with the imminent danger of being burned alive, instead of sticking to the protocol that led to the death of 12 men, Dodge was able to stop and think again.
I’ve always liked to debate. I like discussing ideas and playing devil's advocate. I enjoy the game, the back and forth.
At least I’ve always thought of myself that way.
When I was reading Think Again, I read about how people often get too attached to their ideas and begin to take it personally when presented with facts and ideas that dispute their position.
People connect their ideas to their identity, and when that idea is threatened it feels like their whole identity is being threatened.
These people get heated, angry, and even just shut down completely when it seems like their strongly held convictions are being “attacked,” when in reality they are just being asked to support their ideas.
Gulp.
I remembered a conversation I had just had last week with an old friend. It doesn’t matter what it was about, but I had been telling her my thoughts on a semi-controversial topic when she started asking me questions. She repeatedly poked holes in my line of reasoning, leaving me unable to respond with a legitimate answer.
And I remember feeling annoyed. Why did she have to keep questioning me? I also felt defensive. I wanted to be agreed with, not attacked.
Where had the debater in me gone? The one who so enjoyed a spirited exchange of ideas? Why was I getting worked up over this? Don’t I enjoy a good discussion?
What I realized was that I enjoyed debating ideas when they were not my own. I could hear ideas, challenge them, and calmly be objective, I could be OK with being wrong. Because I was the one doing the challenging.
But when my own ideas were challenged, instead of calmly considering that maybe the other person was right, or even had a nugget of “rightness” for me to consider, I clung even more tightly to my ideas, like an umbrella in a hurricane.
The other day I watched a clip of Rabbi David Wolpe and psychologist Steven Pinker chatting about moral relativism. Steven suggested that our grandkids might find it shocking and awful that we ate animals, even though right now, most people don't see eating meat as a big deal.
David Wolpe, a vegan, interjected with a brilliant line from Jonathan Safran Foer:
You can’t wake someone up when they’re pretending to be asleep.
When we’re more attached to maintaining the version of truth that feels most comfortable to us than to the objective truth, we stay wrong for longer. Like a ratty old pair of sweatpants, we hold onto ideas that have long outlived their prime.
While I don’t think every instance of rethinking will be lifesaving, like in the Mann Gulch fire, I do think we could all benefit from a reminder now and then to question ourselves, our ideas, our thoughts.
Are we outrunning a fire that should be dealt with differently? Are we pretending to be asleep to avoid waking up?
Maybe it’s time to think about why. And then think again.
What did you read over Shabbos?
A selection of shared Shabbos readtp
He had to spoil it with veganism, though. 😝
I just bought the book a few days ago after several people recommended it. Looking forward to reading it.