The only thing wrong with having an Opinion

For me, there was no one better at having an opinion about anything and everything than I was.  You could ask me about anything and immediately I would pontificate and even speak so passionately about it that I would convince myself I knew more about that subject than I actually did.  Boy, was I so full of myself and until lately never really thought that this could be wrong and a major mistake in the salvation of my soul.  I am now coming around to believing that pretending to have an idea about anything and everything is not a mark of a well-traveled gent nor is it a true mark of wisdom.  I’m coming around to thinking that it is simply a mark of an unsure and uncertain person who desperately desires to be accepted and liked.  A person who may do anything and everything to just feel a part of something and to be seen in a much more favorable light than he has in the past.  I’m coming around to the thinking that I am more concerned about how others see me than how I see myself even though I have been known to tell others the opposite.  I am now coming to believe that I truly need to practice what I preach.

So in that vein and to the end, I have made a decision about which direction my life will take from this moment on.  I now believe that opinions should only be based on any amount of knowledge that you have about that particular subject and not based strictly upon how you feel at the time the question is asked.  I believe that this is a major part of all disagreements because the words “well I think” often times accompany the opinion and many times the whole story is not known but it is how we felt at the time we were invited into the conversation.  Had we refrained from giving our opinion about something we knew nothing about, and then took the time to do a little research on that subject, and then when we shared our opinion about that subject, we would appear just as we think we have been looking like all along.  We would be seen as a considerate and thoughtful person who is not afraid of getting as much of the real story before engaging their mouths which often times automatically shuts off our brains.  We would be seen as someone whose opinion does matter because somewhere within that opinion one may be able to find a solution and nothing please many more than being part of the answer to a problem, than just being a part of the problem.

So take heed all those who care, as of this day I am going to only respond to things that I have some knowledge of and if you ask me a question that I do not have any knowledge about, you will have to wait until I do a little due diligence or research on the topic.  There are far too many people who would rather add to a problem than fix it and for me I have always been in the minority about a lot of things.  This minority, I am very proud to be a part of.  The minority that checks things out before opening mouth, shutting down the brain and blocking the ear canals because as Jesus is recorded to have said “it is not what goes into your mouth that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out”.