Opinion

Even if people are as many as the grains of sand beside the sea, opinions are as many as the water droplets that make up the ocean. Each one of us has his/her own opinion on a certain issue or topic. This amounts to a diversity that is probably more than the sum of adding up all creatures living in this world. What is so fascinating is that even though our opinions make us unique, it can also bring conflict and indifference.

Whenever we confront issues, we formulate our own opinions and our own stand. We can accept, reject, revise, advise, or stay firm at being neutral. The interesting thing about making our stand, is that sometimes, there are issues which seem to be pretty straight-forward to us. That is, there is no other answer, but our answer. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an imbecile or a fool. Admit it, I'm sure that some of us have felt this way when tackling a certain issue.

Take for example, the RH Bill (I apologize to non-Filipino readers. I want to be more specific in my examples that's why I used this. If interested to know here's a background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_Health_Bill). Who among you here is a supporter of the RH bill and thinks that those who are opposing are either ignorant or close-minded? On the other hand, who among you here is anti-RH bill and thinks that those who support it are immoral or lustful? I believe that many of us are so sure about our opinions that it is so difficult to understand why the others support the opposite side. This sad truth makes it difficult for logical arguments and debates to have a really fruitful, or convincing conclusion. Most of the time, the people with a specific stand, start and end the discussion with still the same opinion.

Another situation is when the issue involves a lot more gray areas. This situation happens when we really evaluate the pros and cons of the various choices. An example would be when choosing who to vote in a presidential election. When we carefully weigh the good versus the bad for each of the candidates before making a decision, it is still possible for another person to persuade us to rethink our choice, unless there is one candidate that is obviously dominant and most favorable. But when no one candidate clearly dominates the others, a dilemma arises. Debates and discussions are more productive in this situation since it can help us decide on who we really want to vote.

Both of these situations are very intricate and complex, simply because we hold different opinions. The question is, is there really a way to unify our opinions? Forming our conscience, perhaps? Not all issues involve morality, though. Education? Even educated people have varied opinions on several topics. My proposal therefore, is not towards unification of our opinions, but understanding each other's stand. This is because unifying our opinions may be counterproductive. Imagine if Copernicus didn't challenge Aristotle and other great philosophers and scientists' thinking of a geocentric system, we probably wouldn't be able to accurately explain the high and low tides of the sea until now. Again, understanding, and not unification, is the key to finding the right resolution in an issue, with or without the gray areas.