The sun sets on another day…
Last night I watched a simply amazing sunset, as it set it was back lit by heavy cloud cover, the reds and oranges lit the darkening sky and there was no way you could not set and look on in awe.
…or maybe you could, perhaps you could look at the sunset and go, “meh” or some other non committal verse that displayed a lack of interest in the moment. Perhaps your view is completely different. This is your opinion. Though I may feel strongly about an opinion, like that the sunset is an absolutely wonderful display of colors daily, you may think it is just like a light bulb, you hit a button, and there is no wonder at all.
There is a common phrase that notes opinions are like, well, something on a human body, but that common phrase only allows for 1 opinion. Opinions seem to be more like fingers, there are lots of them, and lots of people have lots of them. Who cares, right?
I considered this for hours last night. The measure of an opinion. There needs to be a divider somewhere on opinions. Opinions are anecdotal ideas that may or may not have any real proof associated with them. There are of course facts, that are not opinions, they just are what they are. You can say tonight is a beautiful sunset, and that is an opinion, someone can tell you that it was sheer ugly, and you have no way of disputing it. If you say the sun is putting out light through refraction in the increased atmosphere as it moves to the horizon, well, that is not an opinion. So where do you measure an opinion, we all have different experiences, and sometimes we think that gives us proof instead of opinion. If, for example, we know that driving fast is bad, well, we have some statistics to prove that it may harm you, or worse, cause major issues in your life, but it is still not concrete, because driving fast may be a necessity, or if you are race car driver, it may be your work. So it does not fit always. So how should you approach them.
Well, I would like to think you can listen to opinions and keep a positive attitude unless the opinions being presented are outlandish, or wrong, and even then allow someone the ability to express their opinion. When you go down a long hard line and think that an opinion is fact, you run the risk of upsetting people, or not understanding a point of view. Again, who cares, right?
Care at least for a moment to avoid getting into a situation that you have no point of reference. I was in a discussion some time ago with someone who had a very strong opinion about something. They did not agree with my opinion and eventually stopped the conversation in an unacceptable manner. That in itself was not positive, but the follow up was they made a judgmental observation about me I heard later that was so off base it was ludicrous. I learned from that discussion, I will likely not talk of anything of substance with this person again. In my opinion the problem was the person I talked to had no point of reference, just an opinion, and got more and more frustrated when they could not defined their opinion and really did not want to consider mine at all. I on the other hand, could see their point of view, but had experience in the area that gave me the opinion, that was discounted as anecdotal. It happens.
At the same time my best friends and I can banter in an almost violent way. They will state their opinion and sometimes the passion will flare. It can get intense but in spite of the tense discussion, there is not an issue as we are talking ideas, not about people. The only time I have issues is when in a discussion a preconceived notion is applied as a defense mechanism. “You just think that because you are a…” should be lost in the realm of opinions. At the end of any conversation we hug laugh and move on, sometimes with new ideas, and sometimes still divided but always friends.
So as the sun sets on another day, the sunset is beautiful to me, I like it, and I have a lot of opinions, mostly because I have been around the block more than a little. If you have an opinion I will challenge you if I feel it is wrong, but it is up to you to challenge me with something besides “this is the way it is, and I don’t wanna talk about it”. We all have opinions and need to open ourselves to them all to be better people. We should make good choices, not bad ones, and find a way to help others, and we should enjoy a sunset, or a moon-set, or something that gives us peace, and in the process find happiness, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, enjoy the moment, and have a good night, well, in my opinion you should…