Before I get to the reason for this blog let me say the following: Memorial Day is a day to remember our fallen soldier's and a day to say thank you to them all, their families, and all of the servicemen and women who survived their service and those who are still serving their country. Our country. These brave men and women do this to keep our nation free. We all owe each and every man and woman who has ever served this country a debt of gratitude that we will never be able to fully repay. One way we can repay them in a small way is to not take for granted the freedom their sacrifice has afforded us. And make no mistake, every man and woman who serves this country makes a sacrifice. No, it is not always the ultimate sacrifice, Thank God, but they all make many sacrifice's. A man who's wife gives birth to their child while he is serving this country far away from home has made a sacrifice. A woman comes back with PTSD has made a sacrifice. Their are many types of sacrifice's and again we owe these people, these American's, far more than we will ever be able to repay fully.
This blog post was brought about by a Facebook discussion with a friend regarding people not being able to respect the other side in a discussion. During this discussion I thought about how it is Memorial Day and what the day is for. And the freedom that these men and women are fighting for. There are many ways that we are free. One of those ways is the freedom to have opinions on any number of subjects from religion to politics to sexual orientation and so much more. Yes, when it comes to freedom, this may be not be as significant as the freedom to say vote for who our public officials are, but it is still an important freedom.
So why do we continually try to cut people down because their opinion may not be our opinion? If someone does not agree with us so many people will respond with name calling or otherwise cutting that person down. Why is is that we tend to think that our opnions are the only ones that matter and any other opinion is wrong? So many people don't even want to hear an opposing opinion. Why is that? We see it all the time from important issues like politics to non-important issues such as what vampire series is better, Twight, True Blood or Vampire Diaries?
The main problem I see with this is the total lack of respect that is shown for "the other side". Liberals think nothing that conservatives do is right. Conservatives think nothing liberals do is right. So instead of discussing the issues, both sides name call on a regular basis. To quote Bella in Twilight (ok so I know she was not the originator of this saying) I'm Switzerland. No, I don't mean I'm not taking sides between the vamps and the wolves. I mean I am a moderate. There are parts of both sides I agree with. Which parts? That's not important here. I'm not discussing my political views, at least not this blog post.
Another area that neither side needs to be able to sit down and discuss their sides is religion. People who believe insult people who don't believe. Athiests insult those who do believe. Again, I'm Switzerland. I'll leave that for you all to figure out. It is pretty easy actually. The worst part in any of these disputes, be it politics, religion or vampires, is both sides always complain about how the other side doesn't listen or how all the other side does is insult them while they themselves do the same exact thing.
We have the freedom in this country to have any opinion we want to have and should be able to do so without being treated disrespectfully by the "other side". When will we realize that insults and disrespect get us nowhere. It solves no problems. Listening to what the other side says does not mean that you have to change your own opinion. It is simply showing them the respect that you yourself want. In order to get respect we have to give respect. So next time instead of demeaning someone because they have a different opinion than you do, sit down and say "let's discuss this. You tell me how you feel and why and I'll tell you how I feel and why." I am going to end this on something my mother always said: Opinions are like assholes, we all have one.
Now go on out there whether it be in "the real world" or on a social network and have an actual debate with someone who feels differently than you do on a subject. And if they want to resort to name calling then move onto another person. Don't feed into it, simply move on.
Have a great day everyone!
Janet Lee Smith
05/30/2011
No comments:
Post a Comment