January 10, 2026- Opinions are not facts

We are all creatures of our upbringings, our cultures, our times.

~Oliver Sacks

We cannot deny the fact that our worldview is altered by our lived experience. Our brains filter all we observe through the perspective we have developed over time. It is impossible to comprehend how much information our brains simply discard because we lack the capacity or the experience to make sense of it.

That filter is unique to us. The reality that plays out, in plain sight, right in front of us, is nobody else’s reality. Their filter is different from ours. They understand things we don’t. They observe things we cannot. They miss things that are clear and obvious to us.

Nobody knows all the answers. Every person deserves to be met with respect and with grace. We are all working with limited information and we are all generally doing the best we can to understand that information and to make choices accordingly. If we can only find peace in shared perspectives, we are setting ourselves up for a life of a very narrow friend group that still has plenty of conflict.

Seek out other perspectives. Consider them valid. Give grace to yourself for failing to notice some things that others didn’t miss. Share your opinions with others, but acknowledge that opinions are not facts. We are not living this life alone.