Forging opinions

We live and die with our opinions, but how to we get them or form them in the first place? There’s in my view an easy (lazy) way and a hard way. The first are things that we hear, see, or experience and adopt instantly as our own as we like them or as they strike a nerve. The latter could be exactly the same things or some ideas that intrigue us and that we eventually study, research and, once adopted, make us an expert about them. Actual live experiences and particularly emotional ones may also leave marks in us that will be the building blocks to the strong opinions we harbor. It’s quite clear that the opinions we develop in that matter will stay with us longer and will serve us well. We’ll be able to go out on a limb for them and be more convincing when we use them. Easy and superficial opinions will generally prove to be weak and hard to fight for simply because we don’t really know what goes into their cores. This perhaps sounds simple, but is so fundamental. If you want to be sure your opinions are worth fighting for, make sure there’s solid substance in them!