Aliud aliis videtur optimum.
(attributed to M. Tullius Cicero)

Something is seen as best to everyone.
Everyone has their own opinion about what is best.

(pron = AH-lee-ood AH-lees whi-DEH-toor OHP-tih-moom)

Comment: My source says that this is attributed to Cicero, but I have not
attempted to prove or disprove that. If it is from Cicero, I am not sure that
he would offer this observation as a necessarily good thing. Cicero presided
over for a time and participated in for a longer time, a Roman government that
was in it's last days. The Roman Republic was gasping for breath when Cicero
was elected consul. Rome was reeling from a civil war, and civil warring was
not finished yet. When it was done, Cicero would be dead. Caesar would be
dead, and Rome wold have what would become the first of many emperors.

I talk with my students about political labels and how they both reveal and
confuse what is important to people. We talk about the Latin roots of
"liberal" and "conservative". Each of those groups has its own opinions about
what is best. In Cicero's day, there were various factions, conservative,
reformative and revolutionary. And there was civil war. Some would say in the
end, something genius was lost (the Republic). Others would say something
necessary was created (the Empire). Most would agree that it was violent.

What I find myself reflecting on these days is how to hold my views, express
them with some integrity; how to listen to the views of others, especially
those I disagree with, and honor them and their integrity; and how to do all of
this without violence. How to do this without violating the integrity of
individuals--it seems to me requires some better understanding of how deeply
connected we all are. We share a common life, those of us who breathe oxygen
on this planet. We breathe the same oxygen, and we die the same death without
it. And we can and do hold very different opinions about a plethora of topics.
How do we breathe and opine without violence? Perhaps by focusing on our
breathing.