One of my earliest memories of little league baseball came from one of my teammates' dad who was one of our coaches. It was one of those teaching moments that comes up during sports. Somebody was complaining about something, why this happened or that took place. Our coach turned to the player in the midst of his complaint and said "opinions are like assholes; everybody's got one and they all stink." Oops! Nobody dared say anything else.
I'm sure everyone has heard this at some point in their lives. The longer I live, the more I've come to agree with the statement. In fact, it seems I've come to develop opinions about other people's opinions along the way. As far as that goes, I'm sure other people have developed opinions about opinions about other opinions. Where does it end? Maybe I'm over-analyzing this, but is it appropriate to express an opinion at all? If it is, how does one go about expressing it?
First of all, I think before anybody opens their mouth about anything, they need to have respect for the people they are talking to. I've seen it too often (and unfortunately, I've operated like this) where a person thinks they're the only right person in the room. Those are the conversations where people come away frustrated, with hurt feelings. If a person honestly cares about people, they're going to be more careful than most about expressing their opinion. Period.
Secondly, it's important to be informed about whatever might be discussed. It is SO annoying to get involved in a discussion with someone who is BS'ing their way through it. It's just as annoying to talk to someone who is so immersed in their opinion that they can't relate or understand where the other person is coming from. If you don't know, shut up. You might learn something.
Lastly, and most importantly ( I think so, anyway), before ever saying anything, I think it is appropriate to ask ourselves "does what I have to say add to this discussion?" Chances are that it doesn't. If it doesn't, save it for another time when it might be appropriate. As I've learned, it's not a good thing to speak everything that comes to mind - no matter how good the intentions might be.
I think Christians have a lot to learn when it comes to interacting with each other and the rest of the world. We do have the right in this country to free speech and thank God for that. But, just because we can express ourselves freely as our personal right, it doesn't mean that we can say whatever we want to whenever we want to say it. If we consider ourselves to be at all "Spirit led" as we often claim, it would make sense then that the same Spirit could help us shut our mouths as well as open them.
I heard once, "God gave us two ears and one mouth and that should tell us something: he expects us to listen twice as much as we speak." If anything, that should make sense.
