Go Right and You'll Never Go Wrong

The title of this book is derived from a saying my grandfather had whenever we got lost: “Go right and you’ll never go wrong.” If we had truly counted on this bit of wisdom for direction, obviously we would've gone around in circles. But it’s the underlying meaning of that saying that has always intrigued me. Do the right thing, and you’ll always be okay. Like many things he said, it is simple and profound at the same time. Why shouldn’t we always just “go right”? It makes perfect sense. And which one of us wouldn’t like to say we had never gone wrong?
So why do so few people heed this advice? I think a big part of it is simple lack of understanding. We don’t know how to go right. As a psychiatrist for adults, children, and adolescents, I kept seeing the same wrongs repeated over and over again. At first it seemed like these were simple mistakes that anyone could make, but the more I was in the business, the more these things became obvious. We can’t go right all the time, but we can do better.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m no guru. When you see these things as many times as I have, you can’t help but notice them. These are the rules of the human condition. I’m just an observer, and this is what I've seen. Bear with me a while, and let’s see if we can find our way.