Have you ever wanted to have a conversation with someone about something that you know will be a difficult conversation to have? Not like, the break up conversation or the birds and bees talk with the kids, but maybe politics with someone that you know has an opposing view, or religion with an atheist, or perhaps the most uncomfortable of all race issues with someone of a different race? Not a debate, not a conversation that is intended to sway another’s beliefs or position but just an honest, open conversation in the hopes that you might learn something or gain some insight into something you can’t or don’t understand?
I have. It’s so difficult to do though. It seems like we all feel the need to be right, that we can’t accept that people are always going to disagree about somethings, noone is willing to just have a two sided, open, and honest conversation anymore. Everything is black and white. Right or wrong. No compromise, no gray area.
Your either for or against. What if you aren’t either? What if you aren’t right or left but somewhere in the middle? What if you believe in God , consider yourself a Christian but don’t believe in organized religion? What if you think that our country needs to do a massive over haul on our criminal justice system, that racism is a systemic issue , and that our police forces need to be completely re trained, but you don’t hate all cops and don’t believe that ALL of them are evil and racist? What if you just want to try to understand something that you can’t possibly fully understand because you aren’t walking in that person’s shoes but maybe speaking to them about experiences they’ve had could at least give you a deeper understanding of how they feel.
I long to have conversations like these. Real , honest, meaningful conversations with people who don’t look, think, or feel exactly like me.
If you feel the same please follow my page and let’s talk about it. Just keep in mind that this is a family friendly site and that harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.
Comment on some issues you would like to discuss and maybe my next blog entry will get that conversation started.
Until next time…
Can we talk about it? 