From The Storyteller
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Hello All: Whether it's for better or worse, I believe humans are creatures composed of many different opinions. What do you think? Enjoy, Doug
Believe “Don’t believe everything you think” is a quote from the Buddhist Journal that popped up on FB. I don’t usually pay much attention to FB sayings, but this one caught my eye. It of course caused me to start thinking about the difference between “facts” and “opinions” and helped me to recall just some of those times when I confused the two. More than once I was sure my “opinion” was “fact” only to find out (sometimes years later) how many of my “facts” were merely “opinions”, and that naturally drew my attention to snow. Snowflake science folks have identified eight categories of snowflakes with 80 distinct shapes, all the while continuing to affirm the popular notion, “There are no two snowflakes alike”. Wow, an infinite number of shapes with no one recurring. This ranks next to the number “pi” (3.41...) because even after 31 trillion computer generated numbers, there is no end in sight. Despite serious attempts, no two identical snowflakes have been found, and there is no discernible end to the number “pi”. Those are “facts”, and it’s my “opinion” those two statements are correct, which points to an observation about conversations. When I begin with “I believe”, listeners tend to want to give a hard look at the correctness of my “fact”, while if I start with “my opinion” the result is usually a soft nod. Since I desire to share my thoughts, without feeling the need to prove everything I say, I’ve turned to a third option. Instead of starting with “I believe” or “My opinion” I now offer my thoughts by starting with “I think”, and folks tend to listen better. Of course, this is my opinion, but I think it’s correct, and I believe you might want to try it. Moral: Words create feelings so consider your listeners and choose accordingly. |