Criticizing another person is not out of the question. Just attend to a few conditions before you start:

First, make sure this person is your close friend. Those are the only people worth criticizing—not just because they may actually listen, but also because you run a lower risk of making them into your sworn enemies.

If this person is not yet your close friend, you’ll need to spend some time together, going out of your way to do a favor whenever possible, until a real friendship develops. That will also put things in context, since you’ll discover everything that’s good about this person.

Also, you’ll need to ensure that this person has the same knowledge, understanding and perspective of right and wrong as you do before you can attack his decisions. If that’s not so, you’ll need to spend some time learning and discussing together until you see each other’s point of view.

Once the two of you are in the same headspace, and you’re both good friends to boot, then it’s okay to criticize—if necessary. And if you can remember what there was to criticize.