Q. When do you explain yourself?
A1. When you know you're not right and you're trying to justify what you just did.
A2. When you know you're right, but your beliefs differ substantially from prevailing viewpoints. In this case, being able to win others over to your viewpoint is valuable. If it turns out you were indeed wrong, you'll at least have gained a better understanding of what went wrong in the ensuing debate.
Q. When not?
A. When you're confident that you did the right thing and that no further explanation beyond the facts of the story should be necessary to convince someone that you were in the right.
I hope this helps.
|