Opinions

Opinions are funny, aren't they?  We all have them, and we all think that the certain one's that we hold are somehow correct.  It doesn't matter what they are on, but if we have an opinion then we know we are, by no stretch of the imagination, right.
This concept has been on my mind a lot lately, and not because I have been thinking that I am right about everything, actually the opposite.  I have realized recently, through a lot of different conversations, my opinions do not matter at all.  Sure, they matter to me, and they should...I have them for a reason, right?  But, why should they matter to anyone else?  Why would I make them matter to anyone else?  That's what we do, all humans really, we make/force our opinions on other people.

I recently have been thinking about this a lot because I held a Spirituality Night for my community (something that we, as a JVC Community, have to do every week) in which we all shared our opinions on certain controversial topics.  I did this because I didn't know everyone's opinions in the house.  I thought this was pretty important, because we are called to love each other regardless and I began to realize what if someone that I live with has opinions that are radically different than mine?  I discovered that we all have different takes on things, but they weren't super different.  Which is a good thing, I guess.  Plus it wasn't so surprising since we all work and live together pretty cohesively.

However, something I noticed was that we all wanted our voices heard.  At least I know I did.  No one really backed down on expressing themselves and making sure everyone clearly knew where they stood on certain issues, this made me notice how things are expressed everyday in my life.  When topics come up, whether controversial or menial, we all have this proclivity to make sure we are heard in some way or another.  Even if the person is more inclined to be non-confrontational, they still make a point to express their opinion.
This made me think, what if you couldn't voice your opinion?  What if you physically couldn't or due to a law or way of living, you were not allowed to have the world hear how you feel about certain issues?

I have learned a lot this privilege.  One privilege I never thought I would ever really think about is the fact that I am able to express my opinions freely and openly, to anyone who could most likely not care at all.  I can talk until I am blue in the face about how I feel about TV Shows, movies, actors/actresses, politics, racism, gay marriage, and religion all I want.  All of which I do, quite frequently, because I mainly like the sound of my own voice.  I never thought what it could possibly be like to not have this privilege, and it's something that, I truly hope, I will never take advantage of again.