I remember years ago.
I found out that a friend of mine had an opinion I strongly disagreed with.
This was not a case of whether Coke tastes better than Pepsi or if Messi was better than Ronaldo.
I’m talking about an issue that I strongly believed could affect the rest of our lives. Yet, here we were with opposing views.
I couldn’t take it.
So, I sent him a message as a caring friend, calmly trying to win him over. He resisted. I refused to yield.
At the end of the day, we both stuck to our guns and had to give up.
Years later, I found out I was wrong. I missed out some things. Maybe this matter wasn’t even as important as I thought it was.
So, I found him again. Went through his profile. Read a few of his recent posts. Then it hit me.
He had switched his views too!
The very view I tried selling him on earlier. The one he poopooed that day. The same view I had just dropped. Now, he was promoting it on his wall.
He had become me and I, him!
So, I went into his inbox one more time. A caring friend as always.
We talked for a while and relived past memories. I mentioned the change in his views amidst laughter. He told me the reason he changed.
I smiled and said my goodbye. I never mentioned it again.
Sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t argue this time. Why should I?
You see, a few years earlier, I could have sworn I was right, but was I? Now that we have swapped roles, who is truly right?
I have since grown up, man.
Opinions are opinions.
The very idea of being right while others are wrong is the reason why many are at each other’s throats. It is why many fail.
If everyone decides to make everyone else see they are right, my worry is that who then would be left?
We see the world in colour — not black and white.
Opinions are never facts, my friend.
There are many things I held as the holy grail in the past. Now, I cringe even thinking about them.
I don’t apologise for my opinions. Neither should you. Even then, I keep my opinion to myself. No one made me the guardian of all truth.
You see, even if I am sure that I’m right…
I can still be surely wrong.
#BurnUpOrBurnOut
Tope Fabusola
The Firebrand CEO