I have visited the topic of opinion in this blog, and yes, everyone has one, and everyone's opinion does have some validity, but what I have noticed with the upcoming election, is that for whatever reason everyone thinks that their sole opinion is right. A fact, so to speak. The main issue
with opinion remaining objective, is the idea that all opinions formed by any one
person have come from their own personal history. Each individual has a history which forms
opinion. Experiences which decidedly make their opinion a foundation, they believe,
to be true, for everyone.
During this election, and I am guilty as well, I have
noticed that every person with an opinion believes that opinion to be fact. I
know for a fact poverty sucks. I know for a fact that the rich do not pay a
fair share of taxes. I know for a fact that small business owners pay too much
in taxes and do not get the support locally from sate and government that they
need to be successful. I know for a fact that gay marriage should be legal – that
equal rights for everyone should not be a matter for courts or other people to
decide, it should just be. I know for a fact women are in control and should be
responsible for their own reproductive rights. I know for a fact….and so on, and
so on.
These facts come from personal experience, friends who have
been denied civil rights, women I know that don’t want anyone, man or
government, making choices for them regarding their body, small business owners
I personally know who were taxed (and insured) out of a fair price range for
the profit their business could acquire to remain successful. These experiences
which affect people around me that I care about and want to see get a fair
shake.
Well, everyone has experiences, on either side of what’s
fair. It’s called life. All our experiences have fashioned our concept of
what’s fair, so where does any sense of objectivity come in to play? What is
fair for everyone? Well the answer is there is not
a fair way to do things, because we are not equal. Everyone does not work as
hard as everyone else, everyone does not save their money for the benefit of
family and community like everyone else. Everyone is not exposed to the
education to make them as successful as everyone else. Some people choose not
to work. Some people are afflicted and cannot work. Who drew the map that said
all people should be treated the same on the level of business and commerce?
Rights and the availability to access the same opportunities
seems to be the goal, but everyone has gotten their personal agenda confused
with what is fair and accessible. Some people are just not go-getters, business saavy, or have the desire to participate in the business world. If a
classroom of people decide they all have the same goal, and 20% of those people go
out and over achieve, while 20% of those people decide they would rather wait
for something good to fall in their lap, and 40% of those people decide they
will just follow the upper 20% and do the bare minimum, we have different people
with different values all wanting – desiring the same outcome. It simply is not
realistic – or fair.
There is a basis of value for the beginning of any
functioning success. Knowledge of how to be successful; Start-up, so to speak, and a team committed to the success of your project. With these things it seems
success is imminent, but not all the time. Look at any start-ups that do not
have the full spectrum of knowledge of product, or the backing financially to
run the entire course, or a half-assed team. These things all directly affect
the outcome of any success.
Then the blame starts, "I didn’t get this", "that guy got more",
"why isn’t my platform the same" – we as a nation, need to stop comparing
ourselves to everyone else and start seeking accountability for what is
available, how to fashion it into something personally successful to oneself.
My success may not look like your success. And it shouldn’t.
Individuals. We are each singularly responsible for our
perception of success and the results of our actions and effort.
The concept of jumping aboard what one man thinks is
successful, calling it our own, and then defining it for a nation of people who
are as different and unique as snowflakes is one of the biggest issues with why
success is un-found for most. The definition is not one’s own.
Thus the concept of opinion and what is relative to
experience is confused. I have heard person after person regurgitate something
they heard someone else say and treat it as fact. If my dad is a democrat and
has an agenda based on his personal experience, what does that have to do with
me? My history is with him, my future is with myself. My concept of what is
viable and successful is built within my vision I have built for myself. Not
something I heard as a child, or in school, or by associates.
Our country has faltered in not allowing free, or critical, thinking,
but encouraging classism, racism, and following a group (any group)…to maintain separatism
amongst the masses.
Herd mentality is encouraged and this is how the government,
via the media and politics, keeps the
rich and powerful in seats, and the poor and ignorant working for them.
This is
also my opinion.
There were many who believed only by standing together could
we make any change, but the concept of change is irrelevant if everyone doesn’t
want or perceive the concept of change as beneficial.
Ideally, we would all be independent minded, follow our own dreams, and grant compassion and good wishes on those around us for their dreams and successes. This definitely is not the case, but at least we can look at what we stand for as our own personal dream of peace and success and not force that on others, or expect others to concede to everyone.
Opinion...it's just yours, remember?
