Everyone has opinions. They really are one of the few things left anymore that are still cheaper than a dime a dozen... People will give you their opinion for free more often than not. Their opinion on the weather, your clothing, politics, religion, even on whether or not they care to state their opinion.
Not that the value of opinions is necessarily degraded because they are everywhere and there is no premium on them, quite the contrary. Most peoples' opinion is valued, because people value their own point of view. They have a clear and defined interest in their views for it decides how they will respond to any given question and every situation that they are confronted with.
Every decision that you make in your life is based upon whether you like or dislike something, whether or not you believe that a job should or should not be done... Your opinion is the basis for your honesty, your character. It is shaped by your morals and your morals shaped by your opinions. This affects not only who you vote for President and how you conceive God or the Universe to be, but also your brand of peanut butter and what color you're wearing today. At least it did if your choice was not based on what was clean and what wasn't...
From this you can begin to see just how important our opinions are to us. They are the outward reflection of who and what we are as individuals and groups.
Now, let's think how we go about gathering our opinions... What events in our lives mold our reactions into habits and characteristics? Obviously a great deal of our opinions are handed down to us from our parents. They are our guiding light when we are young and impressionable. They teach us how to speak, what the sights and concepts before us mean and what is wrong and right.
Yes, parents are indeed a noble breed to try to tackle this job of creating, not only a new body, but also a new personality. Other factors that shape us would be our peer group and times of stress.
Our peer groups provide us with a sense of belonging that is brought about by being with a group of people who share similar ideas as we do, ideas close enough that when one has a new idea it is generally incorporated into the group...
Times of stress tend to leave very strong impressions engraven in our thoughts. By this, when a high stress situation arises, we associate things related in our memory to the occurrence. An example of this would be a dog bites you on the leg, and you are terrified of the dog at the time. Let's say that this dog belongs to you friend, and you avoid seeing that friend for some time because you still fear the dog...
Our opinions are not just the voiced answers that fall off our tongues everyday, they also include our pleasures and fears that are seldom shown to anyone, sometimes seldom shown to ourselves. But look again at what determines the majority of our opinions! Not logical thinking, instead it is usually others or times when we lack control that decide who and what we are!
Think about it for a moment... What, in your opinion, are you afraid of? Death? Maybe something more mundane, like spiders or snakes? Why? You and I both were born with absolutely no opinions, no interpretations of what our senses told us. But within that first minute of life, we begin to interpret hot and cold and what they mean to us. Within those first few years we are told what is wrong and what we can and can't do. How many times do you say I can't do that? Why can't you? Who told you that you couldn't? More importantly, when are you going to tell yourself that you can? When are you going to re‑decide your opinions based upon logic, rather than what someone else said to you, or what happened yesterday?
My point is, you are what you make yourself to be. At least you are when you stop being what others make you to be...
In life there are two or more sides to everything, for we do not live in a one dimensional world... Usually each side perceives itself as the best side. Self‑pride and survival of the ego dictate that this must be... But what happens when you overcome your self‑image and look at a situation from all sides?
Try it sometime, you just might find that there are strengths and weaknesses to every side and everything... You might just find that there is a lot more to the world when you look through unbiased eyes... That opinions can be better used to create your own definitive style rather, than just a carbon copy of what you happen to like... Cherish your opinions, feed them only what you want to be...
Remember always that you decide what your opinions are, and that your opinions state who you are.
[© 2002 Joseph Wheeler, all rights reserved]