opinion: /əˈpinyən/ a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Based on this definition, personally, I think you should have some sort of facts to back up your reasoning for why you feel a certain way. But, that’s just my opinion. Some people may disagree with me and that’s okay.

The morning they announced that Roe vs Wade had been overturned I made the mistake of opening the Facebook app on my phone. The very top post was one of my friends stating that anyone who agreed with the ruling should unfriend them and not speak to them again.

Want to take a guess at what the second post was? That’s right…back to back. The next post was another friend stating that they agreed with the ruling and anyone who didn’t should unfriend them and remove themselves from the poster’s life.

So, you know what I did? I left both of them right where they were and kept scrolling through the newsfeed. I did end up closing the app after about a minute and a half because it was the entire timeline packed with posts exactly like those. But, the point is, I didn’t unfriend or stop following anyone. And no, I didn’t share my opinion on the matter and I won’t do it here either. That’s not the point of this post.

As an adult, I wholeheartedly believe people need to understand that other people have different opinions. And it’s okay. My personal Facebook page is private. It’s not a public page where I allow anyone to follow me like I do on my professional pages. I know everyone that I’m friends with there. There’s obviously a reason I’m friends with them there.

The point is, there is no one else on the planet that’s going to agree with you on every single subject. Even if the majority of your viewpoints align, there’s going to be something you disagree on. It’s how the world works. What you decide to do with those differing opinions is what determines who you are as a person.

Everyone has one or two things they are extremely passionate about. Most times, those things are based on large, complex societal issues: religion, sexuality, racism, politics, etc. And then you have people like me who pick the most obscure things to be loud about. The two biggest passions in my life? Literacy and prisoners’ rights.

The first one is a completely different subject and maybe I’ll write a short piece on that later. For now, let’s talk about the one I’m the loudest about. I have very strong opinions about prisoners’ rights and our justice system as a whole. Referring back to the first paragraph, I can tell you I have spent hundreds of hours researching a number of cases, statistics, the history of our justice system.

I have facts to back up my opinion on the subject. Typically, when I post about a stay of execution or (my least favorite) private prisons, the one comment I’m guaranteed to get is “do the crime, do the time”. Every single time I see that it makes my head want to explode. It goes so much deeper than just “a person” committing a crime. The only purpose that comment serves is to show your ignorance on the subject.

Most of the time, I push back a little bit when someone says that but I do spare them the one-two hour lecture on why that statement has zero validity. This particular example is not an opinion vs opinion because committing a crime never has anything to do with what I’m talking about. This is an example of someone having an opinion just to have a opinion.

Two of my very best people have done time in prison. Keeping in mind this is my absolute biggest passion, one of the things I care about most in this life, of those two people, one of them agrees with my viewpoint, the other does not. Want to know what happened when that one individual told me he doesn’t agree with me on the subject?

I said, “that’s okay. We’re allowed to disagree.” Want to know what happened after that? We had a few brief discussions on the subject. And I know, it’s hard to believe, but…we’re still friends. We still talk to each other. Do you want to know why that is? It’s because we’re adults. It’s because we know we won’t see eye to eye on everything. It’s because we are able to have a discussion without screaming at each other. It’s because one opinion, on one subject, doesn’t change who that person is.

Our discussions on this topic allowed us to get to know each other better. We both have valid reasons for why we have the opinion that we do. It allowed us to see things from a different perspective. And that, my friends, is the whole point of this blog page.

Perspective is knowledge. Having an opinion is fine. It’s what makes us unique, it’s what makes all of us different. But you need to have an open mind about things, even if it makes you uncomfortable. The key to fully understanding something is to be able to see it from a different perspective.

It doesn’t mean you have to agree, it doesn’t mean you have to change your mind. You just have to have the willingness to listen. And you need to understand that one opinion doesn’t define who that person is, even if that opinion doesn’t match your own.