Jerry Smith

You Look at It” makes a statement with which hardly anyone would disagree.

Each day, issues and questions of differing views are published and broadcast. So, the question is, what is your feeling about these issues and questions? It all depends on how you look at things. You will draw conclusions and arrive at positions possibly different from mine. The fact that we differ makes neither of us wrong. Let me be quick to also affirm that it doesn’t necessarily make either of us right. Let me also emphasize that the solution to the issue or question might be arbitrary; that simply means not fixed by rules but left to one’s judgment or choice. In other words, it can be based on one’s preference, notion or whim.

We spend much time and energy in our homes, factories, schools and government debating questions that are arbitrary in nature. When all is said and done, any of the positions could have been satisfactory. That doesn’t tend to say that all positions would be equally satisfactory. It simply says any could have satisfied the question at hand.

Now, let not anyone conclude that the position is being set forth here that all issues are arbitrary. There are questions arising every day that need to be discussed and debated that the most satisfactory solution can be determined. Over 50 years ago, a prominent