Be honest, share your opinions

Oh how the semester has flown by! It's hard to believe that this is it, not only for the year, but college together. It has been a great pleasure of mine to write this opinion column for The Parthenon and I want to just thank them for this wonderful opportunity. It has stretched me and taught me a lot and I'm very thankful for that.

I want to finish the semester by explaining why I've written the type of column that you've seen these past few months. First, I want to remind everyone that this is an opinion column and that what I've written about have been solely my opinions and viewpoints. Last week, my viewpoints came under some criticism, and I'm glad they did. We need more dialogue about what people think in this country and their viewpoints. I feel this is the only way we can make progress and discernment about the direction we should go. That is why I've wrote this column. I wanted to bring out in the open how people feel and their opinions about the truth and the best course of action.

With that said though, in the arena of us sharing our opinions, I think we would be wise to have some facts that back up our opinions and open our opinions up to being changed by good, sound reasoning. Also when we share our opinions, we must be willing to stand up and be recognized by name of our opinions, refusing to stand in the shadows and just level criticism. I appreciate the woman who e-mailed me this week, shared her opinion about my column and signed her name to the bottom of it. I've read over her e-mails many times and considered her words, the motivations and source of them, and tried to check my statements the best I can to make sure what I'm doing is right.

Most have not changed my opinion much, but I've made that assessment with the facts in mind willing to reconsider when presented better facts.

This is how honest discussion should go about. But, on this campus, and in our country, it's probably more likely this isn't the case. It's easy to "share our opinions" and lob our nasty comments about people without considering the facts and the reality of the situation. This isn't honest discussion but simple laziness and probably the greatest evil, a lack of self-judgment.

So, in my final words and my last outstretched opinion, I challenge you to have honest, self-judging conversations with your peers. Share your opinions, defend them with facts and realities, and be willing to change your opinions when your opinion no longer holds to the facts.

It's takes a swallow of pride but it's worth it in the end. Let's not write each other off, but start to discuss everything according to the facts.

Nate Stansberry can be contacted at stansberry5@marshall.edu.