A couple of night ago there was a guy who came to the house to inspect a window we'd had installed at the end of the year, supposedly just to make sure it was installed properly.

I had some minor issues with how everything was turning out. They might have just been my issues; after all, we all process information we're given in our own way, and then we set our expectations based on that information. When our expectations don't quite come true, we feel cheated and denied, especially if it came from a sales person, someone we often go into a relationship with not totally trusting what they're going to tell us to begin with.

Anyway, the guy asked what we thought about the new window, so I expressed my opinion on it. His response to me was "Are you kidding? This is a great window; 12 million people can't be wrong."

I didn't respond, but I almost said "Are you kidding? Of course 12 million people could be wrong." How many people were in the wrong during both world wars? How many people are wrong in how they might condemn another religion? How many people were wrong with they wrote the original Constitution and decided black people were 3/5ths of a human? How many people were wrong in creating and supporting Jim Crow laws? How many people are wrong in Zimbabwe now as they try to erase their country of anyone who's not dark skinned?

I could go on and on, but you see my point here. The majority isn't always right; I say that one all the time. One of the most derided songs in history is Feelings by Albert Morris. Bring up that name to almost anyone who's old enough and they'll spit vitriol or laugh at his schmaltzy the song was. Yet that song went to number one and sold millions of copies at the time; how many people were wrong one way or the other?

I dealt with that same thing some months ago on this blog where someone who'd created a product wasn't happy that I had written what he perceived was a negative review of it. He said on that post that tens of thousands of people had used it without a problem. I said that if it meant I was the only one so be it, but it didn't work for me. Was I wrong even if I was the only person if it didn't work for me but many others?

Yes, 12 million people could be wrong. Truthfully, 1 billion people could be wrong. Or one person could be wrong. Many times, the numbers don't matter; the perception does. And as a sales person, this guy could have handled it differently. But he didn't, and I left the room and let my wife handle things. Maybe I was wrong a second time; that's okay, I'm not afraid of being wrong sometimes, millions or not.