My Opinion Doesn’t Matter: An Op-Ed
“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” - Benjamin Franklin
As of this writing, there are over three thousand certified movie critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Far more are not certified, but are happy to contribute their personal opinion without compensation. These opinions have been known to affect box office performance.
Opinion is heavy currency in our world. It has created and ended careers. Jennifer Lawrence’s Versace dress, Kevin Hart’s Oscar hosting, H&M’s monkey sweatshirt, and Shaun White’s past. One day Emily Ratajkowski is a feminist hero for draping herself in spaghetti, and the next, she is an insensitive villain for saying hair is a fundamental part of beauty.
We are plagued by a frenetic pace of op-eds and Twitter posts painting the latest celebrities as heroes or villains, quickly condemned or praised, and in either case, forgotten as the next hero or villain takes the stage. Occasionally, if the crimes are particularly bad, or if he is still President of the United States, one will remain on stage longer in this kangaroo court of public opinion, but the firestorm is constant.
Everyone has an opinion and everyone’s opinion counts. Rational thought is gone; all that matters is instant, uncensored, majority rule. We are in the New Reign of Terror where kings are made and beheaded in a day on the whim of the people, or as the trial of Johnny Depp illustrates, one person.
How should we respond? How should we live in a mad, mad world?
Some conscientiously object, content to sit on the sidelines and watch the cage fight. Others try to speak rationality into the noise. Some tell people how they should think and others tell them to shut up. Does my opinion even matter as to what our approach should be?
Take the Harvey Weinstein case. Do victims who don’t know me need to know that I care about them, any more than Harvey needs to know I condemn him? Or does my caring and condemning matter, not for them, but for those who are watching me? Or are we called to take a stand regardless of anyone being impacted?
Let’s start here: the person in whom I can most effect change is myself. Ghandi said, “If you want to change the world, start with yourself.” Since my life is the area over which I have the most influence, my chief priority should be to live well. I should be more focused on taking the log out of my own eye rather than the speck out of other people’s.*
The next largest area of influence is one’s family. My family is impacted every day by who I am, what I say and do. After that, is my friends. Influence is a series of concentric circles. We have the most impact on ourselves and those closest to us, and the further we go, that impact is diminished. What the masses think and do is on the periphery where we have the least influence. Yet this is often where we spend the majority of our attention and effort.
We should start close, in the small, unsexy things, being faithful in little. The extent of the influence we ultimately have is largely out of our control and is not our concern. God decides how He will use us. Our job is just to do our job and God decides what comes of it.
After that, who cares? I have an opinion on everything and everyone. But as much as I want to share it with you, you really don’t need to hear it. Changing what’s wrong in the world doesn’t happen through sharing unsolicited opinions or writing op-ed pieces like this one. It happens by doing rather than talking. It happens in a million small ways as individuals personally and quietly live the solution.
And you don’t have to agree with that.
J.
* Matthew 7:4-5
April 17, 2019