When I fired off my response to a Los Angeles Times article around 10:30 pm a week or so ago, I re-read it the next day. First thought after 1 cup of coffee, “There is NO way, they will publish this.” I also found one typo and an extra apostrophe. Oh well.
Flash to Good Friday and an editor calls me with the news they were printing it on Easter Sunday. Well, holy LA Times, thank you for that Easter egg gift!
Seriously. The Times is liberal and has it’s own flavor and bent. I skew more ‘moderate conservative’ which in Los Angeles can seem far right. I can assure you, it’s actually nothing of the sort.
I am pleasantly surprised at the Times. Good for them for printing this. It actually shows the reasonableness that society needs today.
We need not only the trite ‘fair and balanced’, but also the concept of ‘to respectfully disagree’. We need to be able to discuss and converse with those that don’t just parrot and echo every single one of our opinions or beliefs.
I can’t tell you how dangerous – and annoying – it is to be around those who simply cannot tolerate differences. It’s exhausting and often immature. On another spectrum is the person who always agrees with you, lacking any personal conviction. This also becomes tiring and leads to the land of nowhere. Perhaps worse, it’s boring.
People have ended friendships over politics and religion. My friends, this shouldn’t happen. Let’s be gracious, reasonable, respectful and intelligent. Note: I didn’t advocate compromising your beliefs.
Let’s strive to be like Aristotle or F. Scott Fitzgerald, respectively: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” “The test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
Be like them. Or like the Times this past Sunday.
Have a good week,
Christine
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