Do you really want to say that?
I've always been a bit of an opinionated person. When I see injustice or inefficiency, it bugs me. I want to fix it. I have ideas about how to fix it. I also have a tendency to be pretty sarcastic, which some people (read: my whole freaking family) think is pretty hilarious (positive reinforcement!). So, over the span of my life I've spouted some pretty biting, negative, opinionated stuff.
Sometimes, I know a lot about the topic I'm talking about - sometimes I don't. The "I don't" pile usually involves politics and world events. I vote, I read things, I listen to NPR. I know some stuff. But, certainly not enough to qualify my opinions as worthwhile on those topics. Those topics I do know something about, well, maybe my opinions have some weight and maybe they don't. Because I'm so young, and have had comparatively little time to study anything in depth, my opinions are probably not the most reliable.
Sort of like yours. Sort of like the opinions of the vast majority of people I know.
But, hey - I have nothing against people sharing their opinions about various topics. I'm a big boy, I can more or less tell when someone is worth listening to and when they're not. Of course, not everyone has that capability - something I'll talk about in another post.
What really makes my heart clench up is the degree to which the overwhelming amount of these shared opinions are negative. I don't like this. I won't do that. I hate this. This person doesn't desrve this. NASA shouldn't bomb the moon. So on and so forth.
In my experience, information like this shared in this manner encourages one of three responses:
- Nothing/silence
- "Me too" kind of shared grousing - amplifying the intensity of the original comment
- "No way" kind of comments that almost invariably create a cascade of (more or less intense) arguing and oneupsmanship.
None of that does anything for anyone. Now, the hidden assumption in this whole blog post is that I believe wholeheartedly that everything a person does should be productive of something good, preferably for the world, society, or the soul of the person involved. So, if you disagree, stop reading and forget you ever saw this post.
My point is, essentially, this : if you don't have something that makes a positive contribution to say, don't say anything at all. You may be wrong, it may do nothing, you may be fooling yourself. But, at least make an effort to do this.
To say it positively - I believe that you must be the change that you want to see in the world, in every minute. So, in every action, every sentence, every relationship, seek only to stoke the positive qualities you want to see blazing eternally in humanity at large.
I am seeking to do this in my own life - eliminating sarcasm and always considering what I say before I say it. If it doesn't seem like it is likely to make a directly positive contribution to the relevant conversation, I remain silent. I'm not perfect at it, yet, but I'm working as hard as I can.
When in doubt, remember these words:
"Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent. "
