I spend several hours each day in a truck with a 65-year-old man (he's my boss) who has strong opinions on every issue you could ever think of. He talks endlessly about it all. I listen a lot and do very little talking. To see me in action, you might think I have very few of my own opinions. But it's not true. I have strong opinions too. And mine differ from his about 99.9% of the time. I mean, I hardly agree with anything that comes out of this guy's mouth.
But does that really? Do my opinions - even strong ones - really matter that much? Do yours? I'm going to go out on a limb and say, probably not.
A wise man I know said to me a few years back, "The older I get the less impressed I am with my own opinion." That's really stuck with me.
So, maybe the next time you hear someone spout off their opinion (especially one you strongly disagree with), instead of blasting them and telling them all the reasons they are wrong, you could say the same thing I say 10x a day to my boss . . . "You might be right." Or, you could say nothing at all - imagine that. After all, he (they) might be right and I (we) might just be wrong.
Even your strong opinions are still just opinions.
2 comments:
well put!
well put
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