Opinion

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?