Thoughts & Opinions — Warrior+Priest

I don’t know very much about Harry Potter. I’ve never read the books and I only saw the first three movies over the course of one weekend many years ago. I know the names of some of the main characters and have, maybe, sort of an understanding of the barest elements of the plot.

I couldn’t have an informed discussion on much of anything with regards to Harry Potter. I couldn’t tell you about themes or ancillary characters or what happens in which book. I couldn’t give any kind of deep insight into the story or comment on the quality of the writing. I don’t really have a single meaningful thing to say about it one way or the other.

And the reason I don’t have anything meaningful to say about it is because I don’t know it, and I don’t know it because I haven’t taken the time to get to know it. I don’t pay attention to it. I don’t study it. I don’t exert any effort at all on its behalf.

So why in the world would I ever think that any opinion I have about Harry Potter would be worth another person's time to hear?

The modern public square of social media gives practically anyone and everyone the opportunity to be heard. It doesn’t take much to air a grievance or share a thought. The tools and the chance to voice your opinions, no matter how well-informed they may or may not be, are right at everybody’s fingertips.

But what has made us all think that our opinions deserve to be heard? Do we honestly believe that our thoughts demand respect and consideration just because they happen to be our thoughts? Does every notion that might pass through our mind carry some weight of importance along with it? Are we really significant thinkers about anything and everything we might even marginally think about?

I hope the answer is obvious. We are all entitled to our opinions, but that does not make those opinions valid, legitimate, or worth anybody else’s time. If you can’t be bothered to pay a dime’s worth of attention to a particular subject, why in the world should anybody else feel the need to respect what you have to say about it?

When it comes to two pertinent issues in most of our lives, namely those of current events & politics on the one hand and faith, doctrine, and theology on the other, too many people fall into the trap of believing that their thoughts and opinions should (and do) matter even though they have exerted practically no effort at all towards making those thoughts and opinions deep or meaningful. People who spend minimal (at best) amounts of time reading, studying, or pondering the Bible still want to be heard when it comes time to add a thought to the discussion. And people who spend even less time than that reading, studying, or pondering history, politics, or current events feel the same way when they open up their Facebook accounts and consider what to type into their status update box.

This society is overflowing with ill-informed people making loud and boisterous statements about things they really don’t know very much about. It is an entitled and foolish position to operate from, and what generally follows from it is a healthy dose of indignation and offense when somebody's precious but stupid opinion is disregarded or challenged.

We need to consider very seriously our opinions and thoughts, and take the time to nourish and strengthen them before foisting them on the rest of the world. We should read. We should study. We should spend the time and investigate disparate opinions from all sides so that we can know what we believe, why we believe it, and why we believe those that disagree with us happen to be incorrect. We should do the work before burdening someone else with the weight of having to hear us.

If what we have to say isn’t worth even being heard, why are we so intent on saying it?

The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near. – Proverbs 10:14

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
– Proverbs 29:20