It is a fact that he who can does; and he who cannot criticizes. There will always be those who become wise after the fact, in hindsight. Who know what should have been done, who should have been chosen, what should have been bought, what should have been said etc. only after something had become a done deal.
These are the eternal fence sitters waiting to steal ideas and then try to make it their own by finding fault with what was created, initiated. They initiate nothing but the moment somebody else initiates something, creates something, they could have done it better by putting more salt and less water. You know the kind, ent?
Constructive criticisms are often welcomed if the reason for it is genuine and altruistic but when it comes from the one with a clinical case of inferiority complex and who is offering criticism just for ego sake, just to look as if one is some kind of Einstein genius, then such bombast could be overbearing. It’s because I have a driving license I feel I could tell Lewis Hamilton to manoeuver corners in the formula races, or tell Messi how to take a penalty kick that ensures a sure goal.
Quite often, persons come up to me knowing that I am a writer and begin to tell me what writing involves, what is required of a writer without thinking that is my portfolio and maybe they should ask me such things rather than tell me with authority the intricacies involved.
Sometime ago, I wrote an article, titled My Dream Team in which I listed the persons whom I thought would make a political slate that was gifted enough to win an election and form the government with the intention of making this country the Singapore it should have been had we understood the basic principle of horses for courses and that when you have a heart attack you went to a cardiologist, and for skin problems you checked out a dermatologist and so forth.
What we have done in this country is sent heart patients to the vet, persons with tooth ache we sent to the podiatrist – thinking foot and mouth diseases were related simply because politicians responsible for that kind of faux pas put their foot in their mouth.
Point is, when I make such a list, it is personal and subjective; it does not preempt others from making their own dream team. However, subjectivity, apart, when I have to decide on say, the particular word I wish to use in the context of my sesquipedalian verbiage, it is always one that could not have been bettered and was most likely to pass the scrutiny of a most meticulous wordsmith.
To the armchair expert, less criticising and more doing might be a better way to have your say.
L. Siddhartha Orie (author).