Blog 3585 – 08.30.2025

In My Opinion

Just after Labor Day in 1967, almost fifty-eight years ago I began my senior year at Chattanooga Central High School and my second year of Journalism under Miss Marjorie Ogle. In year one in addition to our studies we were staff reporters for the school paper, The Central Digest, which went to press monthly. In year two, several of us in the Senior Class were assigned editor positions on the paper. I shared page two of the paper with my good friend and classmate Susan Huddleston. Like me, Susan was also not only a journalist, but a poet. She beat me out for Class Poet by a few votes, but no hard feelings, Susan was a better poet. Miss Ogle gave Susan the assignment of Feature Editor and I got the title Editorial Editor and had a monthly column with a by-line on page 2. The name I chose for my column was In My Opinion.

I suppose this daily blog is really just a continuation of that column that I began so many years ago. I am still sharing my opinions, hopefully following what I call the Three E’s – trying to be entertaining, enlightening, and encouraging.

It is a good thing for me to remember that these are opinions and not beliefs set in stone, just some ideas I would like to share.

There is a great line in one of my favorite movies, Dogma, where one of Jesus’s favorite disciples not named in the New Testament tells Bob and Jay that Jesus never intended to start a new faith with another set of beliefs, just to share a few good ideas. The problem with turning ideas into beliefs is that beliefs are harder to change. Ideas are not so hard to change and we need to change our minds on the issues from time to time.

To paraphrase the old chili commercial, “Neighbor, how long has it been since you had a big thick steaming bowl of Wolf Brand Chili? Well, that’s too long!” – Neighbor, how long has it been since you changed your mind about anything? Well, that’s too long – In My Opinion.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B9548oPxbhvxK_aXOdIuvGIcithksdad/view?usp=drivesdk

Not That Different

Singer/Songwriter Note:

I took the liberty of changing one word in Colin Raye’s beautiful song. I replace the word “fear” in the chorus with in my opinion a better word “feel.” I was thinking of the line “Perfect love casts out fear.”