Friday, September 14, 2007

In His OPINION

"I have the right to my opinion."

Yes. You do.

But you do not have the right to impose your opinion on my life. You can express your opinion. You can offer your opinion. You can state your opinion. You can argue your opinion. You can even try to change MY opinion of YOUR opinion. But YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE YOUR OPINION ON MY LIFE.

And there you have my issue with Councilman Bill Hill.

When he and I spoke after the meeting the other night, I realized that I'd been wrong about him. I'd thought that he never considered any of us; how having 94 sex offenders next door would devastate us - loss of property values, loss of privacy, loss of safety, loss of peace and quiet, and most importantly of all - loss of freedom, loss of self-determination, loss of spirit, and loss of hope. I was wrong. He HAD considered us. Its just that he has a different OPINION. That's all.

o·pin·ion
n.
1. A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof:
"The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion" Elizabeth Drew.

It is his OPINION that our property values will go up, not down. Maybe that's what his kid the real estate agent told him, but studies say that our property values will drop like the ball at Times Square at midnight on New Years - and by as much as 17%. But, in his OPINION, we will be better off with the sex offenders who by being here will raise our property values. Thereby, he is a good guy doing us all a favor. Right?
You do not have the right to impose your opinion on my life.

He told me that it was his OPINION that we'd be safe with the sex offenders in the neighborhood. Therefore, he doesn't see how my 84 year old mother might feel uncomfortable living alone, waiting for the night that one or more of the sex offenders walks away from the institution, runs down the road to her house, interupts her game of Nintendo, rips the controller from her arthritic fingers, and pushes her down, breaking every fragile, brittle bone in her frail little body - to steal her car keys so he/they can escape. Since it is Bill Hill's OPINION that she is safe, her opinion that she isn't doesn't matter to him. His opinion takes precedence over hers. Even though it is her life, her sense of well-being, her safety that he is jeopardizing.

You do not have the right to impose your OPINION on her life.

And when Jerome Kryzer's OPINION is that the sex offenders are not sex offenders, it does little to bolster our OPINION that the city council doesn't know what the hell they're doing. On what information do they base their opinions? Obviously, they didn't do their homework. They are forming their OPINIONS on the propoganda spewed forth by the likes of D'Angelo. This is scary stuff, folks. They forgot to THINK before they imposed their opinions on our lives.

Bill Hill is a people person. He doesn't have a clue about someone like me- who wants to go un-noticed, to be left alone, to live far from the madding crowd. His house sits right out on Hwy 27 for everyone to see as they come to Onamia from the west. He's used to the noise, the traffic. It must not bother him. It bothers me. I am not like Bill Hill. I am different from him. I respect the choices he makes for his own life. He refuses to respect mine. He thinks he has the right to make my choices for me. That is his opinion.

When people like Bill Hill have the power to impose their opinions on American citizens, there are problems. In fact, in my OPINION, Bill Hill is the Poster Child of what is wrong in this country today. People are trying to legislate their opinions and impose them on citizens, removing our rights one by one. It goes back to the seatbelt law.

Somebody decided that seatbelts saved lives. So they made a law. (I haven't worn my seatbelt since, in protest.) When they passed the seatbelt law, I told my friends that this was one giant step towards the end of our civil liberties. Now someone decided that smoking is bad for us. I say, if you don't want to smoke, don't. Stay on your side of the restaurant. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. If you want to wear your seatbelt, then do. Or not. YOU form your OPINIONS and do what is best for you - and I'll form my OPINIONS and do what I want.

The problem is that few folks see things that way. People mind everyone elses business these days, not their own. Everybody is so sure that their OPINION is more than what it is - just an opinion. They think they're right because they think they're right. Bill Hill never considered that what he is doing is wrong. These people are so sure that they have the answers. Why would they try to walk ten steps in someone else's shoes, let alone a mile? They are so sure that their shoes are the only shoes. They want everybody to have the same shoes - just like theirs. And they never consider that some people like to wear boots. Some prefer to go barefoot. There are so many different varieties of shoes... And one size does not fit all.
It is this Single-footedness, this Tunnel Vision, this Small-mindedness that takes away our individuality. And in this case, it takes away a whole lot more. Bill Hill doesn't realize his own arrogance in imposing his opinions upon us. It never occurred to him that he could be wrong - because he thinks what he thinks and therefore to him - that makes it so.

You don't have the right to impose your opinion on my life.

Its not too late to start thinking. Not too late to change a bad plan. Bill Hill and the rest of the Onamia City Council need to do some major homework assignments- researching Nexus, projecting future results of having the sex offenders in our community, the effects upon our town, our neighborhood... They need to base their decisions on knowledge, not on opinions. If they delved into Nexus the way we have, they wouldn't want Nexus here either. In fact, they'd probably pack them a free lunch and buy their bus ticket out of town.

But then, that's just my opinion.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I feel sad about human kind when people like you are so special interest and never look at the facts. Don't think this response as you getting to me. You have not. I am very concerned for the four people who are upset since this means that they are breeding. It is very unfortunate for a small town like Onamia. Perhaps we should all give up. Thanks to the 1st Amendment, however, you have the right to spew your grammatically incorrect, unorganized thoughts. God Bless America, but religion has no place in government anymore. So trying to use the Golden Rule is irrelevant and quite frankly so are you. Again, there is no anger on my part just pure saddness for people like you.