Opinions are useless

We have our own opinion about anything and everybody in our lives. We tag people, objects, organizations and governments alike. We spare nothing that comes across our paths. Everything is tagged and categorized as either good or bad, black or white. When I talk about opinions here it doesn't mean our understanding about a person or an object but rather the opinion that we form about the person or object. Let me explain with an example to make things clear. Its my understanding that my neighbor is cranky in the mornings and its my opinion that he may start a fight with me given a chance. Sometimes we magnify our understanding of a subject to disproportionate levels and form useless opinions about the subject which may not be true after all. Many a times we absurdly form opinions about a subject that we have not encountered in person but have heard of it through the words of others.

The reason I feel opinions are useless is because it puts a filter to our minds. Once the filter is formed we tend to view the subject through that filter always and this doesn't give us the real picture about the subject. For instance, many of the stereotypes in this world, a source of misunderstanding and conflict is because of the opinions that were formed about the subject in question. From terming Jews as misers to terming the Muslims as bomb makers, its all our opinions into play. I've experienced this in my day to day life and I've wondered how stupid I was to have opinions about someone. For instance, in my induction there was a guy who spoke aloud, with a gruff voice, I immediately formed an opinion about him that he was an aggressor. He then turned up to be in my team and once I started to know him in person I understood that he is one of the nicest guys around and I was surprised about how I'd formed an opinion about him that clouded my mind.

Opinions about subjects in life doesn't give us an open mind and puts us through unwanted emotions. A open minded approach without filters in our minds would help us stay calm and would help us avoid anxiety and misunderstanding. In short, Opinions are useless.

The Umbrella

The Umbrella is defined in the Wikipedia as "An umbrella or parasol (sometimes colloquially, gamp, brolly, or bumbershoot) is a canopy designed to protect against Precipitation or sunlight"

Once I was listing out a couple of objects around us, used by us, which haven't undergone major design changes over remembered time and the Umbrella was the first to pop up in my mind. Before I could even write about this "Evolution Stagnation" of the Umbrella I wanted to confirm if I am correct, so I googled for two kinds of Umbrellas, one, for the most modern ones available in the market and two, for the ancient ones documented.

The most modern umbrellas available can be found here and the oldest documented can be found here and I was correct, Umbrellas haven't evolved at all for over centuries together. There can be two explanations for this

1) The design of the Umbrella has been almost perfect for the need it was developed for, from the time of its invention, that it required no design development.
2) The need for its existence and further development has been overridden by many other inventions.

This second explanation is intriguing, because if its true it makes us go back and look at the need for the invention of the Umbrella.According to me, the evolution stagnation of the Umbrella can be because of both the above mentioned explanations.

1) The Umbrella is a perfect cover from Sun and Rain when used over a short period of time and distance.
2) Humans donot have the need to use it for over a long period of time or distance as cars and other covered vehicles have taken over the job of the Umbrella.

The Umbrella therfore is a classic case of a product where, "Need is limited but essential, so the product lives on but product development is unnecessary but is agreeable so there is design evolution stagnation"

torn between things

Many a times we wonder what to choose, and we keep thinking if the choice made is good or bad, is it worthy of a choice or have I missed out something else by choosing this, nagging thoughts these are. I've found myself in such situations many times and I've realized that I keep experiencing this either through me or through my friends who like all of us get torn between things. For days till the time to decide comes we ponder over the possibilites, the outcomes, the happiness or sadness the choice would bring, and as the day nears to decide over the choices, anxiety soars, advices pour in, and sleep is lost totally. simply put we get torn between things.
I wish decision making was easy, that too when you're fully armed with the knoweledge of the choices that lie before you. but its never that easy, life is like that, when you start thinking of small problems like this, you get blown away by the sheer magnitude in which it is present in all waks of life, but sometimes when you stop and realise that you have started to hesitate less when deciding on things then you can be sure that you've been seasoned for life.