It occurred to me recently that the great desire for more fellowship and humanity in our daily lives is because we have all surrendered our humanness to the idea that we ARE our opinions.  Or rather, YOU are your opinions.  I see you as a Liberal, a Catholic, a gay,  a vegan, a techie, etc, but I don’t see WHO you are because we have become so polarized around our opinions that our true natures are trapped out of view.

Opinions can’t get up in the night and put  a cold cloth on a feverish forehead,  an opinion can’t deliver coffee and a donut to the sad co worker who lost a loved one, an opinion can’t hold your hand waiting for an outcome on a medical report, and an opinion certainly doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy.

How do we let go of the idea that what your beliefs and opinions are is more  important than how you show up in my life?  Is it you who remembers to say “Happy Birthday”? Do you bring flowers when I fix you dinner?   Do you ask about my kids?  These are the caring things that people do, their opinions are not tangible.  It won’t matter at all if I am diagnosed with cancer whether you are a Catholic, vegan, gay, liberal, what will matter is that you make me laugh and sit with me when I get scared.  Opinions are out the window in a crisis.

We need to tap that behavior  again and start being human first, opinion second. The only opinion we really need to know is “are you committed to kindness and personal growth?”  All the rest is just a matter of opinion.