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the truth about uninformed opinions 1. five or six years ago i knew this kid alan. he was a little piss-ant when i knew him. he followed around, emmulating beav. of course, most everyone wanted to be beav. beav. is a dallas legend, but that's another story for another time. this kid, alan, only took the bad parts of beav to heart, learned them, emulated him. he was an asshole. it was famous. a complete dick. anyway, through a series of events in my life i didn't see him for several years. i still don't see him often, but a few of my close friends have become close freinds of his and they tell me repeatedly how he has changed. what a good person he is. the truth is, from all the sadness lodged in my meory of the trouble he cuased, i'm not really all that interested in hanging out with him. i guess i am not giving him the benefit of the doubt. i suppose i am showing my friends that i do not trust their opinion, which i do. still, it's there and there's no real reason for it anymore. 2. my brother and i come from different ends of the mental earth. i do not beleive the things he believes. but that's not where it started. it started back growing up. my stepmother was an uneasy woman. she was ruthless to put it kindly, to sugar coat it enough to choke willy wonka. my two brothers and i all chose to deal with the situation differently. my oldest brother sank into himself, hiding behind homework and grades. my next brother chose to tell her what she wanted to hear, to submit, to admit to being wrong when he wasn't, to be subdued. i predictably chose the "fuck you anyway" method of never giving in when i wasn't wrong, of never laying down, of never taking it up the proverbial ass. i suppose i lost all respect for my second brother for that reason, because he rolled over so easily, never fought back. for that reason, i have never really given him another real chance. this week i had occasion to spend an evening at his house and actually spent some time chatting with him only to realize that my "uninformed opinion" was not entirely correct. that's not to say that we agree on much of anything, but more to say that he is not the weakened sell-out i remember from childhood. he is more, better, and almost alive by any standards. it is good to see and truth be told, i regret that i have wasted so much time not realizing that. ah, the damages of uninformed opinions. i regret many things from throughout my life, but none so much as the "uninformed opinions" i let rule my way of thinking about aparticular person or thing. 3. i always disliked the getup kids. i respect them. i recognize their importance int he anals of indie music, but have never given them a real shot because of my frustration for what i saw happen to indie music as they rose to fame (followed by jimmy eat world, others). the truth is, they are talented, intelligent musicians and i've just never given them an honest chance. that shoudl change. that will change. 4. gregory corso, the beat poet always irritated me as a writer, as a person. i picked up a copy of his book "gasoline" several years ago and read a poem or two and threw the book down in disgust. i never understood how he could claim to be a beat poet being so inferior to the greats that sorround him. the truth is, now, having read a great deal more of his work, he is vastly inferior to the likes of burroughs, ginsberg, kerouac, but he is better than i gave him credit for. i lived for an extended period of time with an "uninformed opinion about him" and that kept me from experiencing the joy that is truley hidden in some of his better work. another regret. another "uninformed opinion". they are adding up. are yours?
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