Opinions

Everyone has one, right? Including the Oracle. And being in this classroom means hearing hundreds of them – correction, being a teenager, means hearing hundreds of them. We even have public forums online where all people ever do is state their opinions for other people to read and agree with, and we dress it up and call it “retweeting.” We go to comedy shows downtown and listen to people talk about their opinions. There are even televised events where politicians debate on their opinions and people tune in to watch.

We argue. We scream. We fight over these things, these little formulated concepts. We base our entire lives around them. We plaster them across t-shirts and stop being friends with the people we love, because of them.

At what point do we decide that it is enough?

Even today I was sitting in class and things got heated between students over things as simple as music taste. When are we going to be able to say “hey, you, other human being who is worthy in your own way, you are allowed to disagree with me.”

I am not saying “do not have opinions”. Because please, find things to be passionate about. Fall shamelessly in love with super heroes and rappers, please. Stand up for all that you believe in. Scream if you have to. Write it down in journals and plaster it across your bedroom walls. Stand up for all the lost voices of your childhood. But do not allow yourself to be closed minded. That is a disease of the soul. It is contagious and it will ruin you. Life takes place in the spaces between the margins. It is not the fight, it is about what is underneath it.

So be genuine. Be whole-heartedly yourself, and do so unapologetically. In order to do this, you must allow other people to do the same.