Fact-Checking & Data Processing
As humans, we have many means of obtaining, processing, testing, verifying and vetting information. Human communication skills allow us if we are trained, being careful and respectful, to attain a much higher level of understanding, awareness of our environment and even some of us may become enlightened.
The key to processing raw data reliably and effectively is to glean the raw data, log it and plot a course forward; a process of vetting. You can't remain at the beginning; simply excepting the data and parroting it. You must learn, absorb, and develop supporting facts and experiential data that allow you to refine your initial perceptions with logic (not emotions) and facts in order to assure your direction is accurate and reliably balanced. Thorough research prior to embarking upon a course is advisable; i.e.: make sure that what you picked on the side of the road was really a pretty flower and not poison ivy.
Every day there is another example that crosses my path of how people have never developed the ability to maintain a balanced perspective. Every challenge and piece of information that people are presented in life tests their skill of critical thinking. Those who have some level of skill generally have a much better experience in life than those who have not. The ability to be broadminded, not stupid, but balanced enough to know that there is more than one way to do something right, even if some are better than others can save you much aggravation and broaden your skills and knowledge. What is comfortable and possible for you is not always the same for someone else. Having the skill to understand that there are many points of view that create differing assessments of the same scene depending upon the person's perspective.
