It's okay to be opinionated.
IF you have good research and listening skills, know how to express your arguments tactfully, succinctly, and elegantly, and know when to keep your peace.
Having research skills, and putting them to use, reinforces your opinions with (at least some) facts.
Listening skills helps you to make sense of what other people are saying and not saying.
Being able to express your arguments well not only keeps you from turning your argument into an unnecessarily long rant, it also helps others keep track of what you're saying.
You may even convince a few.
Finally, knowing when to yield ground, when not to belabour dead ends, and when to just let things slide, keeps you from becoming too uptight, and keeps your relationships intact.
Please don't become that contrary, obnoxious person who butts into everyone's conversations and doesn't know when to shut up or concede.
Sometimes, keeping it light is the smarter way to go.
But hey, that's just my opinion.
To Summarise and Simplify a Message into an Elegant Message Requires Great Skill and Finesse
Summarising is tough. Extracting the main points and leaving everything else, all without the changing the message? That's hard work.
The alternative? Walls of impenetrable text, endless ramblings, confusing information, all seemingly intent on making you space out.
What's even tougher, though, is simplifying.
Not only do you have to emphasise the main points, you have to make them easier to grasp. Often, you have to use a different vocabulary and sentence structure to do this.
Which means that, not only do you need to be good at summary, you have to own a certain finesse and elegance in the language, understand the audience, and be ruthless in your quest for clarity.
These aren't skills you can pick up in a couple of days, hence the rarity of good editors and communicators.
So, the next time you see or hear a well-crafted, polished, easy-to-grasp message, thank these precious individuals.
Even if you only do so in your heart.