OPINION? EVERYBODY HAS ONE Thankful We Can Have Opinions

Now, I have an idea that you all think about this subject many times in your life. This subject is opinions and, yes, we all have one.

We want to be number one, in something, almost anything, just better and more fabulous than anyone else. Is that desire called pride, competition, greed or making it better for the world? Who knows what the other feller’s motive is, but we do recognize our own. We should know what we are doing, and most of us do.

The advertisements of this modern world will tell you that the best hay machinery in the whole universe is the one that a particular dealership handles. Turn the page in that magazine and youare faced with the equipment for the exact purpose, a different color and name and the assurance that this one is the very best in the world.

The sport of kings, horse racing, would go down the tubes if all the stables in Kentucky decided they didn’t have the fastest horses and didn’t care. They would stop breeding for speed, maybe even turn the horses out to pasture and never declare which mare should foal from what blood line. No one would care if they didn’t want to have the fastest! Remember, they - all the breeders of the fast horses - think theirs is the fastest or they wouldn’t be in the business.

My close relative has some very unyielding opinions. She is the die-hard purchase clerk in this outfit.We eat only the perfect, in her opinion, vegetables and fruits. She passes up the dents and dings bins and goes straight for the most expensive stuff. I, on the other hand, will dig around in the cheap stuff until I find some that are dang near perfect and I load up. Therefore, different opinions are displayed.

My favorite pickup is the only brand I have driven in my adult years. I have had a few lemons, some that were very dependable and, no matter what, I go back to that brand. My close relative’s male offspring are rather tacky about my chosen brand; they have opinions too. If we all liked one kind, what would happen to the competition? They would sell out to junkyards and buy my brand!

I have never known a cattleman who raises registered cattle that has not had the best bulls that ever hit the ground. He, this fictitious feller we are dealing with, has chosen to raise some breed of bovine because he thinks they are the best, and now he is pretty sure he has the bull of all bulls! Opinions, I guess they are about a dime a dozen!

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, we all best be thanking the good Lord for the ability to think, let alone form an opinion. And isn’t it wonderful that so many opinions are out there? I know that almost any ball team can win a game on a different day, but we still all believe our choice is the best, an opinion, before the first inning starts!

Bill is the pen name used by a local writer and longtime resident of the Gravette area.

Community, Pages 6 on 02/09/2011