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When Your Opinion is Not As Good as My Opinion
North Miami Beach, FL May 15, 2002
A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
WHEN YOUR OPINION IS NOT AS GOOD AS MY OPINION
I have worried about the disparities between what I perceive as
truth and the truth as perceived by others. I despair that there are
differences that seem to be irreconcilable between what friends think and
what I think. Yet this is a commonplace since no two are exactly alike and
there comes a time when the distance between experiences becomes differences
between friends.
"My opinion is just as good as your opinion." I have heard this
from my students who dare to suggest that their fledging beliefs are based
on the years of experience that I draw on to form my opinions. The terms
"half-baked" describe juvenile protestations that they KNOW what they are
talking about. Yet, I do believe that the young people in my classes had
part of the truth. They were just not yet there.
It is the concept of truth that is bothersome. I know things that
are truth for they are self-evident. Yet, not all agree about this
self-evident phenomenon. This is particularly true when you compare what is
seen when an incident occurs and it is seen by two or more people from
different points of view - or from different vantage points. The old
statement that "Peter's view of Paul is more descriptive of Peter than Paul"
has a lot of truth in it.
I can insist on what I have seen is what has happened. Yet, there
are many who will insist that what they have seen is what has happened. Can
we all be right? Can there be only one truth? I am reminded of the two
disputants, each of whom says he is right. An arbitrator first listens to
one and says, "Yes, I can see you are right." The arbitrator then listens
to the second and concludes, "You are right, too." A witness to the
discussion asks the arbitrator, "How can it be possible that both are
right?" The response is, "You are right too."
It is too bad that all disputes are not couched in terms of verbal
dispute. After the first stone is thrown the barrage of missiles make it
impossible to follow events or discover who cast the first one.
Carol's Evaluation: 19 out of 10.
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