When Is An Opinion A Conviction?

At dinner with some friends, we were talking about interacting with people who didn't back the same politician or movement that we as individuals do. We were not necessarily all on the same side, but we were all able to summon up examples of people we would not want to talk with about--fill in the blank--religion, politics, elections. I observed that I have a hard time disliking people for opinions they held and I did not share. It's true, I can engage them and hear them out, but I can't get angry, upset or aggravated about it anymore. On the other hand, I encounter lots of people who feel the need to change me or my mind, even to the point of trying to provoke a reaction from me.

I run into so many people who are that way that I have concluded it is something in the way I was brought up. I am never inclined to proselytize or force my opinion on others and am careful about where I express them, although my wife probably wouldn't agree, she thinks I like to say things for shock value. As if my opinions are shocking...

One of my dinner companions observed that she feels the same way, but there is one exception in her mind, and that was abortion. She said she feels so strongly about it that she could never be close friends with anyone who did not agree with her on the subject. She then adroitly avoided pursuing the subject by restraining her impulse to ask us our position on the matter. Even as strongly as she felt on the subject, she didn't chase it down among friends.

Evidently, she is still more closely aligned with me on the whole matter, but it did make me wonder if distinction was as simple as the difference between opinion and conviction. Here's what Merriam-Webster had to say: an opinion is a belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge, and a conviction is the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth.

Sooooo, I guess I just have opinions and all these others have convictions. I kind of like my spot--my opinions evolve as I see more of the world and listen to what others can tell me. If I were carrying around a load of convictions, I don't think I'd be as happy, somehow.