Frankness v/s Opinionated

I like people who are frank, who are always honest, speak the truth, tell you things the way they are. These people are very dependable and act like a true mirror. They don’t play games, twist the truth or sugar coat facts. It’s a quality I admire because it’s something I lack. Im the queen of sugar coating, always trying to soften the blow.

Often though, frankness gets mixed with being opinionated. There is a thin line between both actually. For example, calling a spade a spade is being frank. Telling a spade that you feel they are behaving like an axe is being opinionated. What you're saying if your opinion of that person, its not gospel truth. It's the way you see things.

People need to be frank all the time. People don’t need to be opinionated all the time. The ones doing it feel they are doing a favour to the ones at the receiving end by being 'frank' about their 'opinion' but that's not the case. They are actually just getting stuff off their own chest, something they need to do for their own mental health.

Telling someone (based on evidence, of course) that their better half is cheating on them and that they are better off without the cheat, that's being frank. It's helpful, it’s the truth and it's appreciated. Telling someone that their better half is a loser and behaves like a jerk and that they are better off without that person, well, that's being opinionated. It’s not required, not helpful and in most times, not appreciated.

You find people so quick to voice their opinions, without giving a thought to the feelings or the sentiments of the one being gifted the opinion. As if to say, these opinions are as valuable as the Ten Commandments carved on the tablets and given to Moses.

I think we all need to learn to be frank and at the same time, not cross the thin line to becoming opinionated.