Know What You Believe

"Opinions are interesting because we all have different ones...Although we should be wise about how freely we give our opinion, we should resist letting popular opinion become ours just because it is popular.  Know what YOU believe and WHY you believe it!" -- Joyce Meyer.

I came across this quote in my morning devotional.  An hour later, as I was reading CNN's article on Lance Armstrong, this nugget of wisdom made complete sense.  CNN'S headline screamed:

Lance Armstrong banned from world Ironman events over doping probe

With a new investigation open, the World Triathlon Corporation suspended Armstrong because WTC rules state that an athlete is ineligible to compete during an open investigation.  But, USA Triathlon said he can still compete in its events.  

Hmmmm...

On his web site, Lance, fervently rebutted these current allegations and said: "I have never doped, and...passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one..."

This whole controversy made me stop and pause, considering my own opinions on this matter and WHY I believe what I believe.  It would be SOOO easy to simply get on the bandwagon and follow the opinion of the day (or the opinion that is trending on Twitter) because that is the popular thing to do.  But, my point is, popular and easy are not always what is responsible, right or just. 

I could write a book on how popular opinion is formed and how mainstream and social media are HUGE influencers.  But, alas, that's not my focus for today.

(Image borrowed from Poems on Google+)

I'm a simple gal, motivated by simple things.  I strive to be better today than I was yesterday.  I try to bring love and light into everything I do, and I make it a point to gather as much info as I can on an issue before forming an opinion.  Because, there are ALWAYS at least two sides to every story.

My personal opinion on this controversy is really inconsequential because, as Joyce said, it's more important to know what I believe and WHY I believe it.

There is a lot of info out there and lots of influencers to help us form, build and disseminate our opinions.  We have to be conscientious and responsible in how we process and use these resources.

Today, I hope to pause long enough to consider why I believe what I believe BEFORE moving forward with sharing this freely.