Why do people here feel unimportant?

Not meaning to make light of the subject but I sort of saw it as a "Inside Joke?" Except without the joke part......It is something members here can understand due to this thread, so when one mentions it, it is assciated back to here. Humble? I don't think is the right word. More just Association......Since apparently "My own opinion" has turned to a rather negative phrase in the community over all.....

Just.....my "Unimportant" thoughts. <--- I don't feel my thoughts will be listened to or respected in the way i view them because we don't all share the same belief or opinion as is discussed in this thread.

......or something...

See when I read it I feel as though those individuals saying it assume that their opinion doesn't matter. I take the phrase literally. When I read it I hear it in my head as someone saying something rather quietly like since no one will listen they aren't bothering to really speak up.

Obviously that's kind of what this thread is about, people feeling like their opinion isn't important. In my opinion, if you want other people to think that your opinion is important you first need to think that it's important yourself. Going around saying "I don't matter" is a sure way to actually feel that way and isn't likely to inspire others to feel that it's important.

The other way I hear it is like a sarcastic slam on the Temple. Telling everyone who reads it that the writer knows that the reader doesn't care, which is not something that people like to hear. "Well you don't care about me or my opinions."

I also don't want people to confuse disagreement with not valuing an opinion. One can respect that one has an opinion without agreeing with it. Obviously this comes back to the manner in which one is disagreed with, but it is important to remember. If I say "I don't agree with that opinion" or "I think that you're wrong" I'm not saying "I think that you are unimportant" I'm just saying that I have a different equally valued opinion.

I guess I just view the phrase "in my unimportant opinion" as either being self-deprecating or somewhat back handed. Either way it's kind of disheartening to see. I'd hope that we could all work together to feel important and make others feel important too and constantly saying "I'm unimportant" isn't going to help, in my opinion.

I have been told my opinion doesn't matter. Point blank to me. So, now I mark my posts with the saying so that people know that I'm just a lowly individual.

-__- It's not a joke to me. Not at all.

Connor L. wrote: I have been told my opinion doesn't matter. Point blank to me. So, now I mark my posts with the saying so that people know that I'm just a lowly individual.

-__- It's not a joke to me. Not at all.

Connor, I wish there was something I could give you to make this issue better again. I wish there was an instant cure that I could offer that would make it all go away. Unfortunately we're just human beings, struggling along together, trying to make sense of each other.

But your opinion does matter. It matters to me. So you're not allowed to say that anymore. Okay?

Connor L. wrote: I have been told my opinion doesn't matter. Point blank to me. So, now I mark my posts with the saying so that people know that I'm just a lowly individual.

-__- It's not a joke to me. Not at all.

All that tells you is your opinion might not matter to the person who said it. It seems to have mattered enough that they bothered to take the trouble to tell you.

Br. John wrote: All that tells you is your opinion might not matter to the person who said it. It seems to have mattered enough that they bothered to take the trouble to tell you.

Except he's not the only person that's been told that. And it's not just coming from one source. This kind of dismissal is one of the reasons I stay so riled up in this Temple.

steamboat28 wrote:

Br. John wrote: All that tells you is your opinion might not matter to the person who said it. It seems to have mattered enough that they bothered to take the trouble to tell you.

Except he's not the only person that's been told that. And it's not just coming from one source. This kind of dismissal is one of the reasons I stay so riled up in this Temple.

But there comes a point where you stop caring so much about the opinions of people around you and just keep doing you. So Joe Blow said you're unimportant or that your opinion doesn't matter. He's entitled to his opinion. You don't have to care about his either.

I don't actually understand why this thread is still going. We're all important and the leadership has said so now dozens of times. Continuing to insist that your feelings are hurt isn't doing anything anymore. They already apologized and offered to correct it to the best of their ability in the future. They even changed the FAQ to take out the dismissive language there. It's time to accept their efforts and start growing again.

To persist in this just, at this point, sounds like whining and is going to hurt your attempts to take on real causes in the future.

If there /is/ some other clear endgame that hasn't been reached, now would be a great time to say what it is.

Is there something that's keeping people from telling who all's saying these things.

steamboat28 wrote:

Br. John wrote: All that tells you is your opinion might not matter to the person who said it. It seems to have mattered enough that they bothered to take the trouble to tell you.

Except he's not the only person that's been told that. And it's not just coming from one source. This kind of dismissal is one of the reasons I stay so riled up in this Temple.

Why do you believe others? No one can make you feel inferior with out your consent. We all know this, knowledge, yet we still haven't come to the wisdom of utilization.This Temple was built to grow not tare down. Let us grow and learn. Im sure if we , like I have never ever,jk, spoke with our council or other people we trust every time there is an incident there will ALWAYS be encouragement. I have ALWAYS received encouragement from my own teaching Master and from my Pastor, and I will attempt to give what I have received here. Isnt that one of many Jedi ways here?

Snowy Aftermath wrote: But there comes a point where you stop caring so much about the opinions of people around you and just keep doing you. So Joe Blow said you're unimportant or that your opinion doesn't matter. He's entitled to his opinion. You don't have to care about his either.

Except that Joe Blow holds a position in an office, and far outranks you, and is very well-liked in the community, and has the ability to shape the opinions of a lot of other people who've never taken the time to interact with you.

That's a problem, Snowy. It's a problem that people have been told by Knights and Clergy and Officers and Councilors that their opinions flat do not matter. It's a problem that people have been repeatedly told by people that they don't have a right to speak about this or about that, or that they're not in the special "in-crowd" of folks who get to be heard by virtue of whatever got them in the clique to start with.

That's not just "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." That's a very real problem in the way this organization works, and it needs to be addressed.
[hr]

Br. John wrote: Is there something that's keeping people from telling who all's saying these things.

For me, it's a combination of common decency and the inability to remember how many people have said those things to me over the course of my nearly eight-year membership at this Temple.