The Lesson That Stung: Guitar Forums as a Philosophical Resource

My Spring-Loaded Jump-Scare Path to Recognition

Back when the music website Harmony Central was still alive (first incarnation) — before it was bought up and quietly dismantled — I came to know a gentleman on the H.C. guitar forums. He was conservative, a few years older than me, and sharp as hell. Friendly debates proved us to be a good match for each other. We weren’t enemies, we weren’t disciples; we were equals in spirit, though often circling each other from different angles.

So stern but fair he was, and his toughness came through his text. One day, in a debate I can’t even fully remember the details of, he handed me a lesson I will never forget. It stung at the time — like a father correcting a son. I wasn’t ready for it. Back then I was on the fence politically, and while I had raw sharpness, I hadn’t yet learned how to apply critical thinking to the world around me. His insistence that I challenge the official story, combined with a Critical Thinking course I took a while back in community college, gave me my start. It all came down to a single moment, a single challenge he made to the thought process behind something I had said. I realized he was right — and it opened a whole new dimension of thinking for me. That was the moment I realized the science of clear thought wasn’t just a classroom exercise — it was a tool for life.

Education can be found everywhere. I first learned about The Mikado not in a music class or through the theater, but through a Chevy Chase movie. The sources don’t matter. I try to stay alert and open-minded, never assuming there is nothing to be learned. In a way, it mirrors the desperation of addiction: I am always searching, always ready to find instruction in the unlikeliest corners. What I manage to score, though, is good for me absolutely. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth — resourcefulness has always been necessary.

I carry the sting of that lesson with me still. It humbled me, and it tempers my action whenever I glean truth through the process. It taught me that being right isn’t about winning a debate — it’s about carrying the responsibility of truth with humility. I make more use of critical thinking than I do of most body organs. Few moments in my life have been more valuable, and fewer still more beautiful.