The other day, I made a bet with a classmate. He argued that there were four rows of seats in one of our lecture theatres. I thought that this was preposterous, as all of our lecture theatres had three rows of seats on all sides.

In fact, I was so confident that I made a bet out of it. I was even willing to put down a large amount of money because I was sure that I was right. But as you’ve probably guessed, when we went to check the lecture theatre out, I was proven wrong.

Embarrassed, I accepted defeat and felt grateful that a large amount of money had not been put down for the bet. It was a reminder to me that no matter how sure we are of reality – what is true and what is not – that we can still be wrong. We are human and we make mistakes.

And so when thinking about people and the various societies around the world, it’s not hard to imagine why conflict, even war, can erupt.

“I’m right!” versus “No, I’m right!”

Every belief is a rule of thumb. One day you might find yourself proven wrong, no matter how firmly you believe something.