Pointing out someone’s mistakes doesn’t make you wise.
Most of the time, it just makes you feel superior.
Marcus Aurelius expressed gratitude to the literary critic Alexander when he talked about what he learned from the man, which was:
“Not to be constantly correcting people, and in particular not to jump on them whenever they make an error of usage or a grammatical mistake or mispronounce something. But just answer their question or talk about the issue itself, and insert the right expression, unobtrusively.”
This guy Alexander the literary critic sounds like a class act.
From him, Marcus learned not to belittle or dismiss those who made mistakes or misused words. He treated them like human beings and tried to actually listen to what they were TRYING to say, not just what they were ABLE to say.
When someone is trying to express an idea, pointing out a grammatical error is a cheap shot. It doesn’t require much thought. It’s judgmental and small.
That’s not the Stoic way.
A Stoic leads by example. If you can gracefully show someone their error, they’re more likely to be grateful to you. Or they may not notice at all, and might continue making the same mistake. Just let them be, and keep on rocking in the free world.
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Love,
L.