Something to Ponder: Odds are high that you, yourself, have never had an original opinion in your entire life.

Let that sink in for a moment. Everything single thought that you feel is unique to you is, in fact, an intricate blend of the thoughts of the people around you, the ideas of people who well predate you, and the accepted truths of the culture in which you live. Your influences range from Aristotle to your Aunt Stacy- from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Macklemore- from General George Washington to Colonel Sanders. But regardless of the many cesspools from which you draw your conclusions, you must know that none of your opinions are your own.

Should that undermine them in any way, however? Absolutely not.

You don’t have to have original opinions to be a unique individual. It is the opinions you choose to hold that make up your character. Opinions become decisions become actions become movements. Abraham Lincoln was not a visionary in his belief that slavery should be outlawed. But he has gone down in history as the man who brought an end to the atrocious practice in America. Neither was Roger Adams (the inventor of Heelys) the first person ever to think ‘Man, wouldn’t it chill if I could take a break from walking every once in a while and just roll around on my heels,’ but damned if he wasn’t the first person to get himself in gear and do something about it. Now, I’ll admit that it is probably unfair to compare Abraham Lincoln to Roger Adams, seeing as one drastically changed the way we live today and the other was only a U.S. president, but the point holds true that while neither of these men were necessarily pioneers, they will certainly go down in history as such.

So friends, share your opinions-share them far and wide. The world deserves to know how you feel about the school’s attendance policy, the people are waiting to hear how you plan to solve world hunger, and the masses are on the edge of their seats to hear about how you think anyone who uses text lingo like “lol” and “wtf” in person should be imprisoned for an extended period of time. The world is yours for the taking, and the time is twenty minutes ago. Express yourself by any and all means possible or risk being swept under the all encompassing rug of time, which will remember only those who did– not those who thought about it. And who knows? One day your recycled thoughts may even inspire a revolution. But hey, that’s just my opinion.