Forming Opinions

 

Ryan Baty is a Sedgwick County Commissioner.  He is also a businessman, the owner of the Mattress Hub businesses in the area.  He is a minister, although not now active in that role in the traditional sense.  He’s a family man and former baseball player, having played for a season in the minor leagues in 2004.  Ryan serves now as the commission chair, a responsibility that is passed on to others following a one-year stint.

I don’t know Ryan as a close friend.  I’ve had lunch with him, after being introduced to him by others.  And I correspond with him somewhat regularly on matters pertaining to local government.  Ryan always responds, and does so with grace and good knowledge of the subject.

He has begun a video series, which he has on his web site as well as on YouTube.  In this series, he interviews various people in an extended, conversational fashion.  Former Commissioner Lacey Cruise and current Mayor Lilly Wu have been his guests, along with Ben Davis, Ryan’s campaign manager.  These interviews are interesting, informative, and give me a new perspective on people who I don’t know personally, but who I know about through the media.

They’ve also gotten me to consider just how I form opinions of others.  What information do I use to help me form my opinion?  Where do I get that information?  How accurate is the information I receive?  Are there other ways I can get information about someone as I come to some kind of conclusion regarding an individual?

I can tell you that my opinions of those Ryan has interviewed who are in public life…Lacey Cruise and Lilly Wu…have changed after seeing the interviews they did with him.  And my take on Ryan has changed some as well, but not as much as with Cruise or Wu.  I’ll explain.

The only information I’ve received about Lilly Wu and Lacey Cruise up until this time have been media sources.  I’ve only recently become a friend of Lacey on Facebook, and have not had any personal interaction with Lilly.  Media reporting locally tries to be unbiased, but as you know, there is no such thing as unbiased media reporting, whether local or national.  Additionally, the media prefer fifteen second sound-bites instead of extensive, several minute responses.

However, with hour-long interviews done in a conversational format, new information comes out.  People have time to flesh out their thoughts.  There can be a much deeper dive into the topics discussed.  Emotions and, if I can say it this way, an opening into the soul of the person become accessible.  These kinds of conversations tend to open up a whole other way of seeing the person in the interview.

With Ryan, I’ve been able to make an assessment from several fronts.  Our conversation over lunch.  His conversation with me via email as we discuss the business of the county.  These interviews.  The local media.  His posts on social media.  All of these tend to give me a much better and more well-balanced view of Ryan than any single source could.  I can’t say that I know Ryan well.  But I think I have a much better perspective on his makeup than I ever could have had if I had used but one source for my information.

This principle works the same way with anyone we might meet or know of.  I need to get several perspectives of a person before setting in stone my opinion of that person.  And if it’s not possible to obtain several viewpoints of a person, I need to understand that my opinion of that person may well be flawed, and I need to be open to readily and willingly change my thoughts about that person if and when I get additional information.

Think about it.  How often do we form some kind of opinion about someone just based on a brief encounter of some kind or some second-hand information?  And how often do we let that opinion become cemented in our minds, regardless of how accurate it really is?  How many times have we formed that kind of an opinion of another, only to find out later on that what we’ve been thinking about that person is totally wrong, based on additional information we receive from trusted sources?

This principle is even true in the church family.  Often, we see people in our church family only on Sunday mornings.  This is the time when folks are usually on their best behavior.  They’re dressed up, at least some from what their normal mode of dress may be.  It’s a time when we see people at their best.

This is one reason for what we call fellowship.  We see others in circumstances and situations that are different from church.  Having a meal with them, traveling with them, seeing them in their home, having them in our homes, visiting them if they are in the hospital, going to their kids’ school and other events…these kinds of interactions give one a much better idea of what someone else is really like than the one-sided viewpoint at church on Sunday morning.

I encourage you to refrain from forming permanent opinions of others unless and until you’ve had several ways to interact with and get to know someone.  I think you’ll find that first opinions based on limited knowledge are often mistaken ones.

May God continue his blessings as we navigate the future together.