Opinionated or Educated?

Zero! That's the amount which I've earned from my opinions. It's also the amount which I've spent for other people's opinions. As most of us have learned, opinions aren't worth much at all... and yet we all have them! The louder a person is with their opinions; the more public they are in expressing them; and the less those opinions have their basis in fact... this is what labels the person as being opinionated. This is a trait (and label) which we try to avoid.

Unfortunately some folks get confused regarding what is an opinion and what is a fact. They reason that if they believe something to be true, then that means it is a fact. Just because we believe it, that doesn't make it true. Paradoxically, opinions can be based on fact, but then they are no longer opinion.. they have now become recitation of those facts!

I have paid people for their expertise (which sometimes has an opinion attached), but it is their training; their experience; their knowledge; and their education where the value lies. Their opinion has the same null value as my own opinion, but their expertise has considerable value. It shows they have done their research. We should make sure our opinions are based in our expertise... and not in our ignorance!

But even areas of expertise can be affected by expectations, prejudices, mental blindness, personal hurts, and other factors which flavor and color the interpretation of facts. Even a person's very pride can distort their knowledge, which in turn affects their application of facts, which eventually runs full-circle where it displays itself as an opinion!

If we are to grow and be all that God has for us to be, we must walk humbly and obediently to Him and to His leading and calling. It is only within that framework that our opinions and areas of expertise can be rounded-up, corralled and take a back-burner... so we are fully ready to be used, mature and to blossom. Let's leave our ego at the door and move ahead.
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