Sometimes, we perceive someone to be our enemy by virtue of their ideology or politics. We condition ourselves to believe that we should hate our enemies, and that they hate us in return.
How many of us have used our weblog to attack a person we don't really know based on his or her ideals? I sure have. Many times.
What if that person you attacked, that person you despised to the point of rage extended an offer of friendship? What if you accepted that offer and found out that person was honest, sincere and smart and was capable of having a mature, even-handed discussion about your differences? And what if you found out you also had some things in common?
Would you be turning your back on those who stand with you on your political and ideological lines by becoming friendly with this person?
Let's just say I received a great lesson in humility today. And I made a friend.
And we'll leave it at that.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that we're all in this together. We might think differently, but is that really such a bad thing? The trolls will always be among us, but that doesn't mean we have to take after them, does it? Lord knows I've downloaded my share of ridicule on those I do not agree with. At the time, it may have seem justified, but in the end what have I really accomplished?
One of the things I appreciate about running my little corner of the Internet is that I get to interact with a whole bunch of people who think NOTHING at all like I do (you know who you are, Scott, Mark and Owen....). It's actually kind of fun, and every now and then I learn something in spite of my best efforts to the contrary.
Let's keep in mind that just because someone disagrees with you, they are not ex post facto evil, misguided cretins. If you can manage to keep your mind open long enough, you just might learn something from someone who sees things from a different angle. You ought to try it sometime.
