That's just YOUR opinion

I am NOT an expert on everything. Don't pretend to be.

I am experienced in many things. That doesn't make me an expert. Except where I am.

But on the areas of expertise I don't expect deference, I do expect that people might be open to a suggestion. I try hard not to wear my expertise on my sleeve.

I note a disturbing trend. People who do NOT know what they are doing deciding they know better even when they don't. They will not take counsel. They will not hear another view.

The Bible says there is wisdom in the counsel of many. Then it depends upon whom you depend for counsel. If everyone agrees with you most of them are useless. Redundant. You need voices that will nudge from the sides and keep you on the path.

It seems like everyone is an "Expert" today. On Science Friday on NPR they talked of this.

How Junk Science interferes with real science. I think it's worse than that. People who don't know what they are doing plow ahead and never ask anyone except the guy working for eight bucks an hour at Home Depot. You can do it, we can help. No they can't.

This is all faux expertise.

I bring this up, yesterday I was with a nurseryman and advised that he would be better off taking the pots off before he planted the plants in the mulch. Never mind that I have much of a Masters in Horticulture and Botany, never mind that I have been in the industry for decades, his comment to me was, "That's just YOUR opinion".

To be clear, this is not some world beater. The is a man who is bankrupt, failed in business, been unable to make anything work, completely lost in more ways than one, this is the man who told me, "That's just YOUR opinion". OK. I'll let you fall over the edge once again.

Wisdom is in the Counsel of many. If you take NO counsel you have NO wisdom.

And make sure you are getting counsel from someone capable of counsel. If they are experts, they aren't giving opinion. That would be expertise.