Everyone Has One

Opinions, everybody has them and if you are keeping up with my blog you are bound to hear mine on all sorts of things. I’ll tell you about books and products and food and politics and religion and people, anything I have an opinion on I’m sure you’ll hear about and I’d love to hear your thoughts as well. I’d like to address something that bothers me though, people tend to throw around the phrase “closed minded” a lot and it really gets my blood boiling. If you have an opinion about something and you believe you are right and someone else is wrong GOOD FOR YOU, BE PROUD!!! If you can and will stand up for your beliefs, BRAVO, not enough people fight for what they believe to be right so we need more people like you!

Now does having an opinion mean people shouldn’t listen to an opposing one or research other things to expand their knowledge, of course not. It is good to know what others believe and why, but people shouldn’t be bullied and called closed minded because they stand firm in their beliefs and opinions. How much sense does it make to just rollover and agree with something you feel is wrong for the sake of being agreeable? Do not sacrifice your right to an opinion for the sake of someone else’s. Of course you think your opinion is right because hopefully you think you are pretty smart and you came up with your opinion based on the facts presented to you. Feeling this way does not make anyone closed minded, it just means every other argument presented to us wasn’t compelling enough to change our minds.

Folks, when we come across any opinion and we feel that it is wrong or silly or uneducated or “Closed Minded” we need to realize that it is totally OK, because that person may feel the same way about ours. We may feel we have been sent from the heavens above just for this moment in time to get them set straight, and that is awesome we should go for it, BUT no matter what we have to say when we present any opinion and the argument behind it, it needs to be in an informative yet uplifting manor. Don’t get ugly with people, people will judge your message based on your character so if you want to influence them you need to have a good one. Calling people names, being condescending or insulting a person’s intelligence is just totally unnecessary and it doesn’t make anyone seem any more right on any subject. Remember class we catch more flies with honey ;)     

Besides if not relenting to the idea that someone else’s opinion may be right is what being closed minded is then arguing with them makes YOU closed minded, because according to you THEIR OPINION MAY BE RIGHT!  

Opinions, everyone has one, this is just mine =)

Be Blessed!