Anyone who generates opinion for a living is going to get plenty

In the words of Jemele Hill, “Anyone who generates opinion for a living is going to get plenty of feedback, positive or negative. Some people indeed don't like the fact that I'm a woman with strong opinions. And if they disagree with me, they are quick to point out what my gender is. I chalk it up to being the nature of people.” Here lies a lesson that shines like a torch in the darkness: to speak boldly is to invite both praise and scorn, and to speak as a woman with strong opinions is to walk a path lined with sharper thorns.

The ancients knew that truth-telling was no gentle art. The orators of Athens and the prophets of Israel endured jeers and stones, yet their words endured because they were rooted in conviction. Hill’s wisdom reminds us that those who give voice to thought must also prepare their spirit for arrows of insult and misunderstanding. For opinion is a double-edged sword—it awakens admiration in some, and awakens hostility in others.

History bears witness to this struggle. Consider Sojourner Truth, who stood before crowds of men and proclaimed, “Ain’t I a woman?” She was mocked, doubted, and belittled for her gender, yet her fire could not be quenched. Though men claimed to govern the public stage, she ruled it with her voice, compelling a nation to confront both slavery and sexism. Her strength, like Hill’s, showed that to be a woman with strong convictions is not a weakness, but a crown of defiance.

Jemele Hill teaches us that the attacks upon gender are not truly aimed at gender itself—they are the weapons of those unsettled by power, those unready to see strength in forms they did not expect. To rise above such assaults is to understand the nature of people: that many will resist what challenges their comfort, and strike out against the messenger when they cannot defeat the message.

Therefore, let the young remember: if you dare to speak with boldness, expect the winds to howl. But stand firm, for the storm is proof that your voice has been heard. To endure the sneers of detractors is to prove that you, like Jemele Hill, carry a power that cannot be silenced. The path of the truth-speaker is perilous, but it is also immortal—for opinions rooted in courage echo across generations long after the clamor of critics has turned to dust.