Recently, there's been a post going around about a color of a certain dress. Gold & white, or black & blue? It got so crazy, people were getting down right angry at each other. All over a silly dress. It got me thinking about other parts in our everyday life where we get crazy. Democrat versus republican, science vs creation. All different ways of thinking. As humans, we get to a point where people act the same. We get a sort of "us vs them" mentality. This thinking leads us to believe that others aren't being logical, don't have a heart, or are stupid. All sorts of hurtful and mean words are just tossed out there.
I've even people go so far as demonizing the other because of a different view point. Recently, I listened to a sermon about curiosity. The pastor, shared a story about how her questioning views made someone else look at her as if, "she had just said she liked to drown puppies." How often in our lives to we get so wound up in our own views do we think of others like this? What's even sillier is so often, we get mad at the other view points for being exactly like us. Unwilling to listen, or understand.
Keeping open minded on views on everything leads to more knowledge. Everyone has their own personal truths. Yet , we forget, curiosity of why someone thinks the way that they do.
When I was young I use to be a lot more conservative. A few times, I even pushed away any thoughts about things my religion would deem uncouth. A part of me didn't want to think about it because thinking about it to much would lead me to not who I was. While the other part of me didn't want to be in contempt with my parents either. At the time, i questioned a lot, yet i could have questioned everything i believed to be my personal truth, more. Through time, and getting away from the church i had grown up in, I was able to question my own views more. As I did, I was able to really listen and understand where everyone was coming from.
How can we keep an open mind at the same time as keeping our integrity in tact? Simple, It's all about keeping what you believe to be your truth in mind, as well as understanding someone has different ideas/walk of life etc. It's like if you like peanut butter and strawberry jelly, but other person hates sandwiches and only eats anchovies. You can listen and understand why that person dislikes your sandwich of choice, all the while knowing, you have the freedom to keep eating your lunch.
