LETTERS: LISTENING TO OTHERS' VIEWS

To the editor:

In Spanish, a speaker may close his address by saying, "He dicho" (I have spoken), as if to say "the Lord has spoken," and with that air of finality assumes that there could be no basis for disagreement or further comment. Of course, absolute truths have been proven beyond question of a doubt. In time, one learns that there are fewer of these intellectual absolutes than one at first may assume.

It is easy in a time of somewhat heated discussion or of political rhetoric that one succumb to the belief that one's opinion is the only one that had validity. One may become so convinced that his or her point of view is so unique that there could not be even a measure of truth in another opinion. That narrow attitude has been the cause of misunderstandings in the political and economic, as well as marital, areas of human relationships. Some may come to a rigid or inflexible opinion and close with a Q.E.D. (that is, there is no room for argument). One often tires of the person who usually speaks ex cathedra, which supposedly gives a kind of finality or permanence to the declaration.

One can learn on a debate team on which one must be able to argue convincingly on both sides of an assigned topic for discussion that there may not be an absolute answer.

We need to learn that one's opinions are not necessarily always, absolutely, positively the only possible truth and to respect the opinion of another.

IVAN NOTHDURFT

Cape Girardeau