Two of the most important things we can ever learn or hope to acquire are critical thinking methods and a sense of self-esteem. In truth, the latter flows and proceeds from how effectively and efficaciously we can employ the former. If we cannot differentiate a good argument, position or valid criticism from a bad or invalid one, we are at the mercy of every chance proposition that comes our way, including ones that have the potential to cause us great harm. If we believe that our minds are powerless to discern truth from falsehood, reality from unreality, then we are powerless to formulate objectives or goals and powerless to proceed to their attainment. From this dire position, it is impossible to feel either good or confident about ourselves, our minds, our bodies, our present, our future. Fortunately, our minds are capable (despite what many arts and humanities courses opine to the contrary) of comprehending truth and reality and in inducing and deducing valid general principles that can help to inform and guide our decisions. As a result, this ability to arrive at valid conclusions and contextually valid hypothesis, gives human beings every right to feel confident about themselves and what they can achieve here on earth. Moreover, it allows us to appreciate more fully the like achievements of those who came before us and upon whose shoulders we now stand. The intellectual, artistic and scientific heritage that we have inherited at birth is massive, comparable to a giant pedestal that rises with the achievement of each great man or woman in these categories. As Will Durant correctly pointed out, “We are born to a richer heritage, born on a higher level of that pedestal which the accumulation of knowledge and art raises as the ground and support of our being. The heritage rises, and man rises in proportion as he receives it.”