Everyone Has One

My dad was a very opinionated person. It's a streak that runs all through our family thanks to him. We all tend to say what's on our mind, sometimes to our detriment. I remember back in my hippie days spouting my philosophy of things to my dad, absolute in my belief that I was always right. I specifically remember explaining to my dad one time, the folly of overpopulation. I said this to a man who had fathered eleven children. According to my dad we had nothing to worry about because there was a vast open area out west of the Mississippi River where more people could live. "And besides," he said, "Which one of you would you have wanted me to stop at? You, should I have stopped with you?...  Asshole." Dad was in his forties, he was still young and still had a lot of his young man opinions. What I did notice though was as he got older he became more open to other opinions. This became evident when he was around seventy five years old and introduced Mark to some of his friends as "Alan's new 'special' friend." That was a first. He had never even acknowledged one of my boyfriends before other than to ask once, "Who was that animal?"

I made the mistake of clicking on the comment section on the newspaper web site yesterday. The hell hole of opinions, good and bad. I know better than that, I know better than to go there. Reading the comments on the Sun-Sentinel web site is similar to my dog Chandler going back to eat the vomit he just saw my other dog Bette barf up. It looks appetizing, but it's really just a bunch of regurgitated bile and half digested opinions. There is no way you would ever be able to change even one of those trolls minds no matter how many facts you could produce.

Opinions are fine, and nobody should be insulted by another person's opinion as long as that other person takes the time to actually listen to what you have to say, and lets it percolate before replying. I find that like my dad, as I get older I am able to change my opinions. Just be aware that some opinions are formed from experience and others from ignorance. Hopefully as I get older I'll get even more experience and less ignorant. And by the way, I still think we are overpopulating the Earth.