Choose Your Brush Carefully

In college my brother Gregg, his friend Tony, and I had a painting business for several summers, which included both commercial and residential painting. It was physical work, but it was lots of fun and we got pretty good at painting. We also learned the importance of using the right brush for the right job, whether it was a roller, wide or narrow brush, or thick or thin brush. The same is true for your opinions and judgments.

In our current times, there is a lot of discussion and debate (more like arguing and attacking) that centers around who is right or wrong. While I may have a strong opinion about certain topics, most are subject to various interpretations depending on the context. In general, it seems like we’ve lost the ability to discern. We’re unable or unwilling to explore context, and therefore quick to make broad brush conclusions without what Malcolm Gladwell called “thin slicing.”

I typically choose not to use words like always and never, and I’m acutely aware when other people use those words in discussions with me. Claiming that anything – a situation or a person is always or never anything is generally too broad of a brush for me.

I certainly believe in the importance of having clear values and belief systems; however, absolutes in a variable world (or black and white perspectives in a gray world) don’t make much sense to me.

If you use a broad brush for everything, you’ll probably make a mess and get paint on areas that you didn’t intend. Similarly, if you use a narrow brush for everything, you will fail to cover certain areas that you intended to cover. I invite you to consider which brush to use when framing your opinions and perspectives on any topic of importance. In painting, selecting the right brush is critical and this is also true with your beliefs, opinions and judgments. 

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