I have an opinion on most of the events that are happening in the world. It may not be right, but at least I have one. Tomorrow, it may change 180 degrees, but at any given point in time I have an opinion.

To form an opinion, I use a simple formula : TRY IT ON YOURSELF.

Do not have an opinion on the Iraq war? Try it on yourself. Would you like your kids be recruited and sent to Iraq? Answer this question and you’ll have an opinion.

Do not have an opinion on homosexuals? Try is on yourself. Would you mind if your kids become gay or lesbians? Answer this question and you’ll have an opinion. Do not just say it’s good or bad: answer the question.

What about Israel/Hezbollah war? Try it on yourself. Imagine that two US marines were kidnapped at the Mexican border and bombs from Mexico are falling down in your local town. Would you have an opinion on what’s a proportional response would be?

Need an opinion about races? Would you like your kids to marry a person of black/white/asian/hispanic origin? Do not pick your own race, answer this question, and you’ll get an opinion.

But be honest. Applying all these events to your family may generate a different opinion than watching CNN headline news.

You do not always have to let other people know what’s your opinion is though. For example, I applied my formula to form my opinion on homosexuals and human races and wrote a blog on it, but has never published this blog. Why? Because these are the topics (religion is another one) that are very difficult to write about without offending someone. So let’s wait for better times…

Blogs work really well in this regard. Only people who want to know my opinion read my blog. Once in a while links to my blogs are used by third parties in mass mailings, so it seems that you are kinda forced to know what my opinion is. I agree that it’s annoying, but as I stated in the header of my blog, since I do not ask anyone to disseminate my blogs, this gives me a peace of mind.