A few weeks ago, I was nursing my second cup of morning coffee and thinking about Jackson Pollock when a friend stopped by with a present for me.

” I’ve just set up your own personal blog”. He happily informed me.

Unlike my friend, I have managed to remain fashionably ignorant about the multiple personality uses of the internet and so I had to ask.

” What do I do with a blog?”

And the answer came back. ” It’s a portal….It’s a portal to dispense your opinion out to the world.”

Needless to say, I was pretty excited and as soon as I had time, I started thinking about my opinion and opinions in general.

Opinions are not equal. Having an equal right to an opinion does not, somehow, make one’s opinion equally right. There are informed and uninformed opinions.

Opinions are mostly  speculations about an outcome of some kind. Once the outcome occurs the opinion is replaced by a fact or belief.

Opinions are about probabilities and beliefs are about certainties. Opinions are bad enough but it’s the belief system that is the real troublemaker.

Political terrorism, religious fanaticism,racism are all examples of belief systems that can motivate violence against oneself and/or others.

Still, people believe all manner of bizarre ideas that are not and can not possibly be true. IT SEEMS THAT WHAT ONE BELIEVES TO BE TRUE BECOMES TRUE TO THE BELIEVER.

And yet, beliefs are just another category of ideas inside ones head. Beliefs can be changed because a lot of them are founded on childhood fears, superstitions and obsolete information.

Mae West said. ” Once, I was as pure as the driven snow…but I drifted.”

I’ve drifted a few times myself and during those times the one belief that surely caused the most grief and regret was.  “I won’t get caught”.

Unfortunately , for me this usually turned out to be an opinion.