Rights

What if we had the right only to sound opinions? Ah, who's to judge? say the hoi polloi. The teacher in the classroom, perhaps. The expert in the machine shop. Some lifer with a record of fairness and the severity that comes out of long caring. If we didn't make sense, we'd lose our right to another opinion for, maybe, an hour. And never could we say, "Well, that's just my opinion," or "One opinion is as good as another," without losing a few day's rights. Could more generosity be expected in the face of the shameless? If we'd said something very stupid, well then we would have to do some work in the community, say with the mentally impaired. After all, having a sound opinion is merely a minor achievement, just the beginning of good thinking. It's the least we should expect of ourselves.

- Stephen Dunn in What Goes On