Maybe I’ve been listening to too much Hamilton, maybe I’ve been reading too much written by Jason Fried and DHH But I’m going to do something a little crazy this year.

I’m going to have opinions.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. — Oscar Wilde

No matter what I do in life I will eventually die. At the end of it all, how will I know that I’ve lived? Honestly I’m not sure, but I will know that I haven’t if I just stay on the sidelines and in the shadows. I think that I will know that I have lived if I can look back and clearly see that I stood for something, that I fought for something. That I played a part in on the world’s stage.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about becoming your angry political friend on Facebook. I’m not talking about fame and I’m not talking about power. I don’t expect to play a large role in the Earth’s drama but I do want to at least play a part.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said,

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. — Martin Luther King Jr.

I believe the inverse is just as true. Our lives begin the day we become vocal about things that matter.

Obstacles

Why have I been on the sidelines? Why have I not fully taken a stand for my convictions?

Fear. Fear of offending and fear of being wrong.

When I was a kid this crazy guy named “Kinky” Friedman ran for the governor’s seat in Texas. Here’s a picture of the guy so you can get the mental image right.

Anyway, I didn’t agree with his political views but there was one thing I remember him saying in the debate that has stuck with me ever since. He said,

“If you aren’t offending someone, then you’re doing something wrong.” — Kinky Friedman

I think he has a valid point. I can not expect to do anything that matters and not have some people disagree with me and what I stand for. In the musical, Hamilton there is a line, “You get love for it. You get hate for it. You don’t get nothing if you wait for it.” This year I’ll take the hate as long as I’m expressing my true convictions.

If you stand for something you will have people for you and people against you. But if you stand for nothing you will have nobody for you and nobody against you. — Maurice Saatchi

I don’t expect to always be right. I wouldn’t be surprised if my opinions become more refined as time goes on. In my friend, Austen Allred’s twitter bio he says, “I have made remarks that I do not agree with.” I’m sure the same can be said of anyone who truly thinks and speaks. I won’t let the fear of sometimes being wrong hold me back.

Moving Forward

I’m pretty young, only 24, so I’m pretty rookie at most things in life but, I am good at thinking. I can break most thinks down and reason from the ground up with first principles. I read voraciously. I have as much right as anyone to form and express my own educated opinions.

I’m going to make 2017 my year of opinions. At the very least it will be a lot of fun and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to look back on this year and see that I have truly lived.