Opinions

I was walking with a woman once who critically commented on every house we passed. “Those purple flowers in the window boxes have got to go,” she said at one place. “I can’t abide plastic fences. They are so unnatural. What are people thinking!” and “Doesn’t she know that widow treatments should match from the outside!” at the next two yards we passed.

As we walked the criticism continued at every single house, but the interesting thing was what happened to her. As she’d speak her extraordinarily beautiful face would pinch tight in a snarl so that it lost its beauty, and the “venom” of negative thoughts would build within her then spew out like hot lava in a volcano spreading their negative fire to the rest of us. Granted, she may have just been having a bad day, but whatever the cause, the point is that the criticism did nothing but hurt her. Her thoughts caused her unnecessary pain.

I am well aware that the fashion industry, educational institutions, food connoisseurs, and home décor businesses and every other group have standards and guidelines that many people follow and like. If those "opinions" make your life easier or more enjoyable, follow them. However, to insist that everyone else should follow them and to get upset because someone else doesn’t or to think that everyone should have the same taste in things as you do, as was the case with this woman, is ridiculous. It only vexes your life.

If someone has a purple fence that you would rather die than have in your own yard, why vex yourself over it? It’s their fence. Enjoy the color! Smile at the person’s free spirit! Delight in the variety that free spirit adds to your life. And when tempted to criticize what someone else chooses to do remember, “Everything is as wonderful or terrible as your opinion makes it.” It’s all a choice—your choice.