Opinions

So, today I learned that not everyone's opinion is the same as mine.

O.o* (blink * blink)

Wait!
What?

I tho't everyone felt and thought and believed and behaved the same as me!? How can someone's opinion differ from mine?!

And, to add insult to injury, he was critiquing my writing! (pout) I gather that, even tho' he's a Vet, my poems are "divisive rhetoric" and I need to "tone it down."

Well, this country was founded on the ideology of freedom of speech, so I can't fault him. He has as much right to his opinion as I do to mine. (by the way, he also feels there's too much ideology and we need to move away from it toward more truth....)

Wait.

What?

I was actually quite nice (I'm so proud of me!) and managed to politely point out that ideology and truth don't need to be mutually exclusive. I told him I appreciated he had a different opinion from mine, that this country was founded on the belief we all had the right to have, practise and freely speak about our opinions (no, you may NOT practise your opinion up in my face! thank you!) Civility while expressing our opinions would be nice, but isn't always to be expected. I know, that sounds rather cynical, but that's what sin has done in this world. We all tend to believe everyone's entitled to our opinion. (or, as one t-shirt I saw put it, "If I'd wanted your opinion, I'd have given it to you!")

See, this man, too, is a Vet. I have to respect him for that, alone. And, no, I don't believe every soldier agrees with every last thing he's told to do. I believe our men (and women, I know) all have opinions about every war they were told to fight. Every battle they had to face. I don't expect every one of them agreed with what and how they were told they would do. But, they did it. I respect them for that. And I love them for the fact they stood there and did their best (and still do) to stop the Mad Man.

Apparently this little contretemps over my writing came about from the essay/monologue, of which I published a copy of in my previous entry here, "A Warriors' Voice". I'm not sure if the essay itself provoked him, my assumption that I was speaking for ALL Warriors (I never would, as I told him, I've never been in the military, so I don't know the military mind... and I did add a disclaimer in my essay that I would never BE so presumptuous) or what, but apparently, somewhere in there (or maybe one of my poems, I'm not sure) I also left out American Indians and what they contributed to our military (not that I ever specified culture... I know a naturalized citizen who joined the Army and fought for his adopted country with great pride!)

Well, as I stated at the start, this country was founded on the belief that we're allowed to think how we want, speak how we want and to freely express ourselves. So, I'll let Mr. Opinion state what he thinks, and I'll try to be respectful of it even if I think he's wrong. (well, it was my work, y'know!)