Joel Osteen is a successful TV evangelist. He shared this
thought the other day:
“People
have the right to their opinion. And you have the right to ignore it.”
How true! Trouble is what is an opinion and what is a fact?
What is truth? What are the variables that affect those highly different
elements?
Hard to say, of course. If we don’t understand something it
is easy to hear about it as an opinion and thus we are free to ignore it! What
if the ‘opinion’ is actually a statement of fact? Whether uncomfortable or not,
the fact remains. Do we ignore it freely?
Of course we can. at our own peril we ignore the facts and
the truths of life, however. There are consequences to ignoring such things.
Such as global warming. It is a highly technical issue that is understood best
from a scientific vantage point. I personally do not understand all of the
science, but I get the gist of it and am concerned about the matter. What do I
do, what should I do about that?
Well, I've chosen to let those people who understand the
science of the issue to continue their research so that we might all benefit
from a solution to the issue later on. I certainly will not attempt to stop
that research. Research will help us all understand what is happening and the
consequences of doing nothing are. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
For those who think global warming is an opinion, they are
wrong. It is a fact. It is science. There is much unsettled about the issue. No
one knows exactly what to do about it, the timeline of destruction or the
defense against catastrophe. But most people are supportive that a real problem
exists and we need to understand it better in order to manage the issue better
over time.
That’s reasonable.
Unreasonable is seeing the problem as a potential barrier to
a personal desire to behave or conduct my life in a certain way. Will global
warming policies restrict my business or cost it more money? Will my net income
be hurt. The answers are probably yes!
But no one knows for certain.
All we know is that mankind’s life on the planet is warming
it and our weather, ice caps and ocean levels will change. Those changes will
adversely affect our lives until we find a new way to live with the changes, or
slow the advance of the problem itself. We can’t possible know any of that by
ignoring the problem.
Bottom line: ignoring facts and truths have consequences.
Ignoring opinions holds little consequence.
Let’s be sure we know the differences among these things so
we choose to pay attention to what matters.
January 23, 2014
Hey George. As always, very thought-provoking. I don't know where I first heard it, but someone once told me "fact + feeling = meaning." I have found this useful in discerning what you are writing about here. I'm not sure, however, with your sentiment that "ignoring opinions holds little consequence." I think people seek validation, and only through validation can we create the space in which we find common truths, as well as to safely explore each others' facts. Take, for example, temperature. "It's cold outside." Is this a fact? It's 9 degrees here this morning, so most likely there would be agreement that it's cold. Let's say it's 55 degrees. Is that cold? In the middle of August, mid-day, yes. Mid-January? No. But the temperature is the same. Additionally, where the person is from influences what "cold" is. To overcome misunderstanding, it's important understand the context from which one interprets facts, and in order to achieve healthy community, I think ignoring both hold the same consequence.
ReplyDeleteHere's more: how we listen to each other helps. I recently heard the term "emotional correctness" (juxtaposed to political correctness), referring to how we say what we say. See more at http://williampennhouse.blogspot.com/2014/01/reflections-on-emotional-correctness.html
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