It’s been said that opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one. That doesn’t mean that I’m an asshole for having an opinion. Or that my opinion is that everybody’s an asshole (though I’ve sometimes thought that). It means that I can’t help but have an opinion.
But that doesn’t mean that my opinion makes me absolutely right, or even more right than the next guy. The problem with an opinion is that once you have one, you think yours is better than everyone whose opinion is different. But it’s like having a favorite color. What’s better? Green or purple? In the end, one opinion isn’t better or worse than any other point of view. It’s just different.
I can be open to changing my opinion. I can stop attacking yours or looking down on you for having it. In some instances, I can even give up my opinion and be happy, if I’m willing to give up my investment in being right. But sometimes, all I may be able to do is to step back, point, and say: Oh, it’s only my opinion that’s making me unhappy.
I can stop voicing my opinion, realizing that it’s only my perspective. There is a time to speak up and speak out, but in the vast majority of cases, even though my opinion tells me that it’s time to let it loose into the world, I don’t have to voice it. I can get myself in less trouble, and be of more help to others, when I don’t offer my opinion. Because most people don’t really want to hear it anyway. They’re too busy shooting off their own opinions, trying to get their own points across like arrows in a fight that devolves into outrage. It usually starts like this—
You wanna know what I think? (No, not really)
I think that people should think… How can that sentence ever have a good ending? I can’t control what other people think, and thoughts aren’t facts. They’re not reality. I once saw a bumper sticker that said: DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK. Very wise, in my opinion.
In fact, I just realized that this whole post is only another opinion. It’s my opinion about opinions. So, take it or leave it. I’ve just told you what I think. I guess I do have an opinion as to what other people should think, and what they should do with their opinions. I suppose I do believe that when I hold an opinion, I believe what I think.
That may make me a hypocrite, but part of being human is the right to be inconsistent. Tell you what: forgive me, and I’ll forgive you the next time I hear something come out of your mouth that I don’t necessarily agree with. Maybe if I do that, and keep my tongue folded in half in my mouth so that it’s disengaged, so that it’s not in gear, I can do my part to make the world just a little more peaceful today.
© 2025 by Michael C. Just