Taking a stand

So my modus operandi for dealing with disagreements in the last several years, has been to simply not have an opinion. I've tried extremely hard to see things from every point of view you care to mention, and to understand people rather than judge them for their bad decisions or poor social etiquette. I've tried my damndest to not take sides in arguments, ranging from family fights, to work politics, to social circle spats. And lately I've been wondering about this, and whether it's a good idea to try to be Switzerland all the time, because Switzerland usually gets left out of things. What got me thinking along these lines is the fact that whilst I don't have many enemies, I don't have that many people who'd call me a friend, either. Now this isn't a pity party, I have some really good close friends, but I seem to struggle to make casual friends. For instance, at my last job, I tried to keep any opinions I had about people to myself, and to be a neutral/friendly combination in my attitude towards everybody. What this meant was that, like the Ents, I wasn't on anybody's side and thus nobody was on my side. This was made very clear to me when I quit being "the new girl" and some even newer people arrived, only to seemingly make instant and passionate attachments to people they hadn't known a month ago. This puzzled me for a long time, until I realised that I possibly seemed like a bit of a wild card, as I never expressed any definite allegiance to anybody. And people don't trust someone if they can't gauge your stance on an issue.

I'm starting to realise that simply not having opinions on things does not mean that I am any less judgemental than the next person, I just choose not to air those secret opinions, even in the relative safety of my own mind. What I am in fact striving for, is to be able to be a big enough person to listen to others' opinions when they fly in the face of my own. To be wise enough to not take it to heart when someone thinks my ideas are stupid/wrong/pretentious as opposed to theirs. I need to learn to have ideas and opinions of my own, and to stop being cowardly about accepting that I may hold some unpopular stances on certain issues. Meekness is not a virtue in today's world, and it's time I grew out of it, already.

So... that's my bit of pseudophilosophy for the day. Tune in tomorrow for more rants and philosophising on mostly inconsequential subjects ;)