I became an opinion columnist for the BG News in the spring of 2004. Since then, I have submitted many articles that were based on my own personal life experiences or things I could relate to.

I think many people, including myself, learn well by examples, so that’s what I ended up doing. I shared my stories in hopes that I could reach a few people. Based on both positive and negative reactions to my articles, I believe I did just that.

I’m not one of those opinionated people who feels like I have to state my opinion all of the time either. As a matter of fact, those people tend to get on my nerves. It’s like — why do you always have to throw in your two cents?

To make it even more messed up, those types of people tend to not only give their opinion all the time, but also give it on the most petty, unimportant topics. That’s on them though. What’s important to some may not be important to others.

The same goes for opinion articles. If I submitted an article on my religion and God, then that’s my faith. If I did another one on my life experiences, then that is my truth.

That’s one of the cool things about opinions. Everyone usually has one — it’s just not always wise to give it because it could get you in trouble. Then you’ll have people who will often try to present their opinions as truth.

It can be wise, though, if backed by factual information. If it’s not — well, then that’s their opinion.

I feel like there is so much more I could share, but I have to admit that there is much I know I cannot share. I would love to, but I know it wouldn’t get printed. I have a few articles on the back-burner now and am holding off on submitting them.I might not ever submit them because of the possible impact they could have. Like I said earlier, if you’re not cautious, your opinion can get you in trouble.

At one point in time I thought that I wouldn’t be able to continue working for the BG News because I was running out of ideas. I wasn’t quite ready for it to be over though.

I don’t like to say I write for the BG News either because truthfully, I don’t. I consider it a gift that I can just go to the computer and start typing my articles without ever needing to pre-write or write anything about it. I thought for awhile on what else I could possibly touch on that I hadn’t talked about. I did my articles on religion, politics, sexual awareness, and friends and so on, but I need not repeat myself.

I don’t go by the titles of the articles to determine if I will read them or not because I know a lot of titles get altered. It’s the first few lines that determine if I will be interested in someone else’s article.

Lately the BG News has been flooded with articles on politics and various religious subjects. There’s nothing wrong with that, but eventually, everything looks the same to readers, and they end up not reading any article having to do with the played-out subjects.

I try to be versatile in what I do so with that in mind, I asked other people for their input and suggestions. That’s the very thing that inspired me to do this article.

I realize that no idea is original, but that shouldn’t stop any of us from presenting our opinions. I believe that no matter what we think, it’s been thought of before; it’s just that not everyone has or has had an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas.

There is nothing new under the sun, but there is versatility in all of us.

E-mail Jeremy with comments at [email protected].