I’ve got strong opinions on many things. Politics, the pandemic, public health policy, medicine, law enforcement, military operations, diet, exercise, healthcare, insurance, banking, capitalism, socialism and just about anything else that crosses my mind.
One thing most of my opinions have in common, is that I am not qualified to have them!
Many years ago, I asked a mentor what he thought about some current event. I’ll never forget his response. He said,
“I have no experience with that and so I have no opinion on it.”
Since when did that matter, I thought? Everybody has opinions. I figured he was just dodging my question.
Later, I read a tradition of the organization we belonged to. It said,
“We are only concerned with our primary purpose. We have no opinion on outside issues (including politics, religion, government etc)”
Hmmm. There might be more to this than I thought.
In time, I found myself using my mentor’s approach. If I knew nothing about a subject, I offered no opinion. If I was asked about something that I had no experience with or expertise with, I said so and offered no no opinion.
It was eye opening.
I was no longer spouting off like some blowhard know-it-all. I stopped making things up to impress people. I saved a lot of time and energy offering my opinion on trivial matters.
Saying “I have no experience with that. I have no opinion” can be remarkably liberating.
I stayed on this course for years and it has served me well. But there are times when I slip up and start spouting off my opinion on something I know nothing about.
Then, before I know it, I get a little bit of knowledge, and decide I’m an expert. Suddenly it seems like I have a wealth of knowledge and advice ready to be delivered to any unsuspecting ear.
Making uninformed opinions is like eating peanuts for me. I can’t just have a reasonable amount. Once I start I cannot stop until I’ve overdone it – the jar is empty and I have a stomachache.
With the pandemic lockdown, I’ve fallen back into the opinion making business. Fortunately, only a few friends, my mother and my faithful blog readers have had to suffer listening to them.
Sorry about that.
I’ll do better.