A Dog Named Kenzie

Today I was taking a walk around my neighborhood and had an experience that was eye opening for me.

I met a little boy dog named Kenzie who really loves people.  He wasn't on a leash and came running at me, really just wanting me to love him.  The owner caught up with me and said, "I'm so sorry! Kenzie just loves new people and once he gets an idea in his head, there's no changing his mind!"

I laughed and replied, "It's ok.  I know a lot of people who are just like Kenzie".

It got me thinking that we are a lot like Kenzie.  Once we get an idea in our heads, there is almost no changing it.  It doesn't matter if we are confronted with facts, other opinions, or anything else, we just do not like to change our minds.

Changing a mind takes humility and an open mindedness to accept new possibilities.  It takes doing some research into unbiased news sources or into sources we don't usually delve into like maybe a Bible or a textbook.  We have to look at all the facts and then make a decision that just might be different from our original opinion.

An opinion is not something that just happens, it is formed from experiences, our beliefs, and our minds.  But, if you are going to argue an opinion, there should be some factual basis to it.  It is silly to argue a point if you just "feel" something, you should also know something.  In addition to knowing something about your point, it is super helpful to know as much as you can about the opposite side's points.  This is called education.

Sometimes, when we do our research, we discover we are wrong and need to change our minds.  Shocker!  If this hasn't happened to you yet in your life, you should probably search yourself and start finding better friends who will call out your bull crap.  Realizing we are wrong is humbling but it doesn't have to be shaming.

Yesterday, a friend of mine declared an opinion she had in a post on Facebook.  I read through the comments and saw that she had actually changed her opinion after doing several hours of research.  My friends, this is how it's done.  She went back to original interviews, documents, and articles and learned the facts about the situation and then changed her position.

Are we so like a dog that we can't listen? Are we so like a dog that we can't do our own research and come up with an educated opinion instead of just spouting off what we think is in our hearts??  And are we so like Kenzie that we will just run at people and attack them just because we think they want to hear what we have to say?



All of us should be like my friend, not like Kenzie.