Seventh grade life science class. We were learning about mollusks. A guy who was kind of my friend but kind of not looked over at me and proclaimed, “You should eat a hamburger."
"Excuse me," I thought. "I eat plenty of hamburgers. I ate one last week. I could probably out-eat you in a hamburger eating contest. Do you even know how much I eat? Come at me, bro."
Of course, I didn’t say any of that. I didn’t say anything. I laughed. I let him get away with telling me to change something about myself that I couldn’t control. I let him shove his superfluous judgment into my brain where it continues to be a waste of space.
That unfortunate instance was only one of an incessant stream of people sharing their unwanted and unneeded opinions on my weight or physical appearance or the weather or politics or global warming.
Our society has an unfortunate way of twisting our minds and skewing our perspectives until we no longer know what thoughts are our own and what thoughts have been placed in our minds by toxic outside influences. For example, a single comment to me about my weight contributed to my being self-conscious about my thin figure for the better part of my adolescent years. Of course, that was prior to the freshman 15.
We live in such a pervasive culture that people are more willing to criticize those around them instead of understanding how those harsh criticisms impact the ears they fall upon.
When a model isn’t emaciated enough, people complain. When a law is passed that people don’t agree with, they whine. I’m looking at you, Christians responding to the same-sex marriage law. When tragedy happens, they blame others instead of thinking about what they could have done to prevent it.
We live in a culture where people have to both have strong opinions on every single topic in existence and, even better, express their opinions across all forms of social media. Please note the sarcastic "even better" in that last sentence.
Guess what, people? It’s OK not to have an opinion. It’s also wonderful to have an opinion and NOT share it with the entire world. That’s actually called having tolerance and respect.
Do I have opinions on same-sex marriage and Hillary Clinton and Chipotle? Of course I do. Is that a bad thing? Of course not. But just because I happen to love Chipotle doesn’t mean I feel the need to shout it from the rooftops. Sure, I’ll Snapchat my burrito bowl occasionally, but according to other people’s estimations of me, I’m a basic white girl.
The next time you want to voice an opinion you have, whether it be on the weight of a middle school girl or the use of the Confederate flag, consider the consequences. If you do feel the need to share your thoughts in person or by way of social media, share them with respect and grace. The world is in desperate need of both.
"People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." –Ralph Waldo Emerson
