“People who live in glass houses should not throw stones” Chaucer – Troilus and Criseyde circa 1385.

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” – Virginia Woolf

Not all our thoughts, no matter how honest, need to be aired. We live in glass houses, even if we avoid social media, and there are endless platforms where our words can reside for years to come. For the first time in human history we have been given the microphone. Many of us responded with the maturity of a kid who just got hold of the microphone in the middle school’s administration office. As each new group ages towards middle school behavior they can’t resist the siren call of saying whatever they want to whomever they can. They don’t quite understand how the internet is forever, yet. Even if their verbal and visual contributions do not reflect their real ideas, their words will stand without explanation as their honest thoughts long after the surrounding culture is gone.

I believe some of my opinions are worthy enough to write this blog. But I don’t believe that all my opinions have that same merit. I try to separate the two carefully. I mess up like everyone else and thank the digital heavens that there’s an edit function. Since I also live in a glass house, I am careful to be honest about people, places, and things. I ask for permission to share anyone else’s personal story and attacking anyone is strictly off-limits. There’s no need to attack others just to get a point across. Changing things for the better rarely begins with bad behavior and never begins with bad intentions.

There are limits on where we should opine and on what. Many of us get into trouble when we begin giving our opinions on subjects where we are not experts. By experts, I mean people that have dedicated years of their time and focus to learn as much as they could about a certain subject and then continued to work to increase the breadth and depth of knowledge in that subject. If someone were to come up to me and ask me for my opinion on how dinner tasted, I would have to say that I couldn’t give an opinion and then I would probably have to explain why. I am not qualified to give my opinions on flavors and scents at this time. But, if someone asked me for my opinion on homelessness, I’d probably have at least an hour’s worth of verbiage and maybe some graphs and pictures too because I was homeless for years and heaven help anyone who asks me about homeless veterans.

That’s where the when comes in. Giving our full, honest opinion is a relatively vulnerable activity. Unless the person/group asking actually wants to listen it can be a large waste of time. And even if they do listen, they might not be in any position, or have any intention, to create progress. It’s very easy to begin preaching to the choir, or preaching to the converted, meaning that we’re spending our time and energy trying to convince people who already agree with us. Most of the time voicing our opinion, no matter how heartfelt or well-reasoned, isn’t necessary and isn’t wanted. The internet would have us believe otherwise, but if we think about it, just how many times have we read a comment section and left it thinking “Wow! That person made a great point and I really need to do some research”?

So in this glass house I try to keep all the stones out of my hands. For my honest statement today, my whole reason that I started this blog was because I would love to help people find their abundance so they can share it with those around them. If I had 20 million dollars, I still couldn’t give enough away to make the impact that say 100 thousand people sharing their talents and bounty could make. I’d still love 20 million because that’d be such fun to give away, but both would be the best. In this world, life can be harsh but we can make it a little bit better if we all work together. If you think you have nothing to share, you’re wrong, we all have things to share.