Power of an Opinion
Adolf Hitler said, “Words build bridges into unexplored regions”. He knew giving voice to our thoughts is very important. That’s how he rose to the position of Führer. One of the famous quotes of Steve Jobs — “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice”. These great leaders knew the power of opinion.
In today’s world, only a few follow this practice. Our thoughts or opinions are influenced by our surroundings, role models or upbringing. These opinions are not pure. They lack experience. In my opinion, one of the factors which give any opinion power is a personal experience. Most of our opinions are based on hearsays. Which restricts our thought process.
I was not cogent before I joined law school. In my school, I was constantly challenged to opine. To give authority to my opinion I used precedents set with a bit of personal experience, wherever I could. I am still not cogent, but I have grown enough. I realized how opening myself to new ideas and perspective of others has changed me and my ideals. Now I am more confident, open-minded and always in pursuit of something new.
While researching for this blog, I found something very interesting. Socialist C Wright Mills encouraged the idea — to disagree is also to opine. By disagreeing to an idea, you open yourself to a new opinion. It is healthy to disagree as by doing this everyone is compelled to think further. So, in a way a disagreement can help achieve improvement. He gave an idea of how it is healthy for people to disagree as long as it does not lead to fights. To be given two different opinions and have a discussion over it in a good faith is healthy.
This is the power of opinion. Not only it helps us express ourselves but also helps us understand different ideologies, actions. We all are created to be different, then why are we trying to so hard to fit in?
Looking at all successful leaders, historians, anyone you can think of. They were and are not afraid to opine. They know it’s a journey, which starts from a perspective/thought process. When this same thought is given a voice, it becomes an opinion. This opinion is then opposed by many criticisms, which is a crucial moment. Its how you react to these criticisms which decides how you grow.
