My flaw(s)

Oh yeah; I recently brought a major flaw of myself to light, and it's one I'm hoping to correct and eradicate. No, I don't mean my inability to pick meaningful titles. It involves the way I treat my friends. I did a good deal of soul searching after my last post about how long I'm supposed to put up with certain complaints, and I came to a disheartening realization.

Whether I am correct or not, I at least consider myself to be wise. Not in the sense that I know everything, because I certainly don't really know very much that can be learned in books. But I know it in the socratic "I only know that I know nothing" sense (which Socrates pointed out is something most people don't know, so they aren't even that wise), but also in the common-sense "this burned me the last time I touched it so I won't touch it again" sense. That feeling of self-wisdom has led to an arrogance of sorts, unfortunately. And that arrogance, coupled with legitimate concern for my friends and the feeling that I should always offer them advice, led me to forget that they are their own people. After offering my advice, which I felt would be the best way to make them happy (or at least the least unhappy), I was bitter if they didn't take it. I felt like my thoughts were disregarded simply so another bad decision could be made. And I had completely forgotten that they are their own people, entitled to make their own choices, and that I must respect them, even if I don't agree with them. Their choices, their lives, their dreams, are no less valid of my own, and it was wrong of me to forget that. I've apologized to most of those who've been directly affected by this error in my thinking, but let's consider this posting to be a blanket posting to those I may have missed. Good night.