“Everybody is entitled to his own opinion”
Enlightened minds are only entitled to “informed point of view”. This is so because people enlightened by experience in the school of life are usually careful about forming opinion since opinion is the one of the most ignorant way of thinking. Opinions are created in the absence of proper knowledge and understanding. Lets paint a picture, lets assume you are walking and you see a drunk person stumbling like a boat on turbulent waters, immediately,you will feel that he is a habitual drunk or a wayword person else why would he drink so much to the extent of embarassing himself in public,then you dislike him. The reason you disliked him easily is that you formed an “opinion” of him as a drunk. Then later you found out why he took to drinking and even you are hurt by the reason and you know within you that if such happened to you,you will do worse.
Now that you have proper “knowledge” your previous opinion is no longer active.
Another disastrous thing about opinion is that they can be influenced by our personal vice,prejudice,hatred,intolerance and wrong perception. When such is the case,we fail to realise that “we” are the actual issue at hand,not the other person we are referring to.
For us to understand how opinion destroys our interaction with others,we need to know difference between opinion and point of view. Point of view is humble and open to more learning or open to the suggestion of others but opinion are usually rigid or closed to new ideas.
Life is full of learning,as leaders sometimes we are tempted to form hasty opinion of things we know nothing about. The wise method here should be to hold on and find out more the said subject in view before drawing conclusion. Our conclusion should also be open to accept different ideas or learn more.
Life is one long series of unending lessons, we need to forge great point of view so we don’t do the wrong things or make mistakes.
With proper knowledge we can improve our interaction with others,this will save us alot of headache.
Nathaniel Branden in his book six pillers of self esteem states that
“we do not understand another human being when we know only what they they did is wrong,unkind,destructive, or whatever. We need to know the internal consideration that prompted the behaviour. There is always some context in which the most offensive actions can have their own kind of sense. This does not mean that they are justified,only that they can be understandable”
In our modern world with its frenetic pace of hustle and bustle in addition to the explosive search for information prompted by the internet this leaves us little time to get all the details we need so as to make accurate decision,the result being that in some cases we lack proper knowledge of things or of other people. To fill up for this lack,we create opinion of people and use that as a benchmark for our interaction with them. The problem, here is that in some cases this benchmark is faulty. These faulty benchmark affects our whole interaction with them and has the potential to spoil a supposed smooth relationship with others.
With proper knowledge we can function better as colleagues,friends,associate,neighbours and any other,all we need is to take a few consideration into the equation.
considerations such as
1- Every human being wants to have a smooth working relationship with others,deep down nobody likes conflictual interpersonal relationship.
2- You can have an easygoing relationship even with the most conflict prone person. This is possible when you know the way to be cordial and keep required distance with all kinds of personalities.
3- In most cases,our interaction with others is based on who we are,i.e. people respond to us or treat us the way we are. If you are aggressive,people will unconsciously be aggressive to you except if you meet someone who knows how to tame your aggression without conflicts with you.(in some cases they are so adept and diplomatic that you will never suspect or know you have been tamed). If you are gentle,when you have an interaction with an aggresive person,he will be gentle in the beginning until you give him a reason to put on his “defence clothing” being his aggression. But if know how to relate with such people,you will never give him a reason to change gear with you.
4- You can build a better relationship with others when you know their motivational buttons. Everyone has their motivational button which when activated makes the person behave with their highest integrity.
It all boils down to one thing “KNOWLEDGE” knowledge is the great comforter which hope and assumption never were. Living in the modern age,we are equiped with powerful tools such as the internet,with the internet you can have great knowledge on any subject we wish to know more about.
“Knowledge is the principal thing”
– Holy writ
Build your knowledge on any subject,no matter how little the subject is,this way,you will build integrity in all facets of your endeavour.
“Knowledge is power”
-Nonsense talk dictionary
The truth is that knowledge is responsibility,when you have knowledge,that knowledge equips you wil a responsibility to serve the community of humanity with the fruits of that knowledge. Saying knowledge is power may have served as a morally upright principle in the past but today,history has shown us that knowledge as power only create tyrannical leader who are insensitive to the plight of the people that are leading. Please note that leadership here does not mean the political class,everybody can be a leader,in our homes,family,street,school,place of work,social gathering infact every interaction between two people involves some element of leadership.
Forge the most appropriate knowledge of things and let life shine on you.
Post written by Eleas stanley