This month’s quote is an important reminder about humility and encouragement.

“Fight for your opinion, but do not believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth.”
— Charles A. Dana

If we are passionate about we do, of course we will have opinions — sometimes quite strong ones. These opinions have hopefully been developed through a reasoning process based on personal experience — and judgment, and not reached as the result of a knee jerk reaction rooted in fear or some other toxic emotional state of mind.* But the world is made up of billions of people, each of whom is entitled to his or her opinion. Because these are personal by design, anyone thinking that any one opinion paints the whole picture is living in a fantasy world. If we spent more time listening to what others have to offer with an open ear, and less time mired in defending our own opinion exclusively, we might very well move forward toward our goals far more efficiently and effectively.

*Remember one thing. You cannot reason someone out of something they have not been reasoned into. Don’t even bother trying. It will never work.