"Opinions"

According to my friend Webster: An opinion is a belief not based on absolute certainty or positive knowledge, but on what seems true, valid, or probable to one's own mind; judgment. Of course I believe the key word here is "seems", because there really is no real validity when it comes to opinions.......only speculation, however, the word that stands out to me is "judgement". And as you can plainly see, it sits alone, all by itself. Now maybe I should have titled this judgment, because in essence that is the premise for having opinions, but I think it's interesting how they can co-mingle.

Right now, I want to focus on what happens when our opinions come into play. When we are faced with a set of circumstances or with a person that is the least bit different than ourselves, something inside our brain tells us it's time to gather information.... i.e...think ,ponder, evaluate, surmise, or assess, so that we can actually come up with how we will choose to interact or relate to the situation or person. Gathering that information involves delving into everything that we have experienced or exposed to since we were able to remember as a child. Where we lived, how we were raised, our school experiences, what we ate, what sort of environment we lived in.....etc. It's our core makeup. Just as a used car has been through one or several owners, moved around to different places, and either been repaired repeatedly, or maintained regularly........what you see at any particular point would show you how it's evolved over the years. It will perform according to how it's been treated.

Now granted we aren't cars, but my point is, we are all coming from a completely different place in this life, so it stands to reason that our opinions are going to be based on our past experiences.... and you notice, there is no point in focusing on whether they were good or bad, they just are what they are, and while we might think that our opinions are surely right in any given situation, they are still not based on the truth. We usually base our opinions on the outward appearance of something or someone......thinking that if it doesn't challenge us in any way to change our usual way of thinking, then they could end up on our approved list. However, if it has a certain look or feel about it that makes us the least bit uncomfortable, then they will end up on our unapproved list.

Of course I'm sure you've figured out by now that this is more about opinions about other people as opposed to situations in our life. I believe we put much more time and effort in injecting our opinions about other people that don't suit us, instead of taking the time to get to know them better. I wonder what difference it would make if we all got really comfortable with the fact that we are very different, in many ways, and everyone has something to offer because of who they are and where they came from, whether you grew up in the mountains of Appalachia, or Park Ave. in New York City. Much could be gained from either person.......becasue both are madeup of past experiences, either good or bad, and most often as different as two people might be, could most often find a common ground in which to share.

People are different for a reason. God made us that way...... not so we could stand out and profess our superiority while judging others based on our opinions of that person, which are not truth based, but rather express our humility in realizing that we all come from a different place and never have the right to approve or disapprove of anyone. We cannot possibly understand who someone truly is until we realize they could have a life and past that has challenged them in ways that you could never imagine possible.

Opinions about others are most often based on what is unknown, as opposed to what is known. So with realizing that, doesn't it make you want to stop, the next time you rear up and say something negative about another person, and understand in all actuality, you don't really know the whole story. After all, wouldn't you hope that if someone were saying something about you, that it would be based on the truth as opposed to speculation?