Jonathan Keese Sr.  

At a recent PBS television appearance, I asked the studio audience, "How many of you like being criticized?"  Not  one hand was raised. I then asked, "How many of you hate being criticized?" This time, nearly every person in the studio raised there hand. Finally I asked, "How many of you can remember a criticism you received in your childhood from a parent, a teacher, a friend, or someone else that really hurt you?" Almost instantly, nearly every person raised a hand again. Even audience members in their late seventies could recall hurtful criticisms from their youth. That's how terribly painful criticism can be. Most people today hate criticism and treat it as a dreaded enemy. They do everything they can to avoid it, and when it comes, they defend against it, rationalize it, run away from it, or attack the critic.

Like everyone else, I , too, used to hate criticism. And yet it seemed that my life was full of it. It came from anyone and everyone: my old friends, my old partners, even my parents. I tried to deal with it in all of the normal ways:ignore it, run away from it, deny it, defend, argue, make excuses, and more often than not, shift the blame toward someone else or attack the critic. How about you? How have you dealt with criticism?