Changes happen. Oh, fuck, do they happen. And we all roll with the punches of life, don't we?? Dealing with a mortgage, rent, utilities, work, and extra-curricular activities are absolutes. If you don't pay your utilities, they will be shut off. Everyone deals with the same issues and makes a change if necessary. Don't have enough gas money each month?? Might have to switch priorities - the additional cell phone has to go OR the dining out once a week has to be canceled. That's something every adult member of society (for the most part) can understand. But the big question I have is: why can't we admit to (or even consider) changing our minds???
Thoughts, ideas, theology, politics, hypotheses - these things are not solid. They are fluid and malleable. They can all be changed. It can be a large thing that happens; an agnostic has a near-death experience and decides to find a religion that works... or it can be a small thing; you're given a hand-up and you decide to pay it forward. Either way, your perspective has changed and you've decided to do something a little differently -regardless as to whether your conscious mind knows it or not.
Then why, oh why do people try and push their religious agenda on their fellow human beings by using the secular legal system?? Why can't we have an open dialogue, listen to the other side, and maybe - just maybe - change our way of thinking?? Or at the minimum, accept that another person CAN have a viewpoint that differs from your own?? Because it's fucking scary, that's why. We've become a nation that believes "changing our mind" means "flip-flopping" (thanks to political pundits and our sorry educational system, a stunningly large portion of people believe everything that happens on the bullshit box - AKA "television") and that the concept of "flip flopping" is baaaaaaaaaad. Really??
Confession: I *am* a "flip-flopper". Oh, the shame. The humanity!!
Yes, I am an opinionated person. Yet, if I'm having an educated (civil) discussion about a topic and find out that I didn't know as much as I thought I did... if I was dead-on wrong about the subject?? I'd end up going home, mull things over, find various articles, read about the subject (preferably from both viewpoints), and will more than likely discuss the topic with other friends. You know, gain a new perspective and all that shit?? Yep. And guess what? It's about a 50-50 chance that I might change my bloody mind. That's right, Internet. I said it.
Luckily, I have friends who are very diverse and who are also very accepting of my choices... I am, after all, an out-of-the-closet atheist. Oh, and a liberal. And a Massachusetts Yankee (living in the Bible Belt). And a hedonist (by nature). And I'm also child-free-by-choice. I don't hide what I am.
So... do you feel like getting together?? Maybe having a couple of cocktails and talking about something interesting?? I'm in - if you are.
Rational dialogue for the win.
Thoughts, ideas, theology, politics, hypotheses - these things are not solid. They are fluid and malleable. They can all be changed. It can be a large thing that happens; an agnostic has a near-death experience and decides to find a religion that works... or it can be a small thing; you're given a hand-up and you decide to pay it forward. Either way, your perspective has changed and you've decided to do something a little differently -regardless as to whether your conscious mind knows it or not.
Then why, oh why do people try and push their religious agenda on their fellow human beings by using the secular legal system?? Why can't we have an open dialogue, listen to the other side, and maybe - just maybe - change our way of thinking?? Or at the minimum, accept that another person CAN have a viewpoint that differs from your own?? Because it's fucking scary, that's why. We've become a nation that believes "changing our mind" means "flip-flopping" (thanks to political pundits and our sorry educational system, a stunningly large portion of people believe everything that happens on the bullshit box - AKA "television") and that the concept of "flip flopping" is baaaaaaaaaad. Really??
Confession: I *am* a "flip-flopper". Oh, the shame. The humanity!!
Yes, I am an opinionated person. Yet, if I'm having an educated (civil) discussion about a topic and find out that I didn't know as much as I thought I did... if I was dead-on wrong about the subject?? I'd end up going home, mull things over, find various articles, read about the subject (preferably from both viewpoints), and will more than likely discuss the topic with other friends. You know, gain a new perspective and all that shit?? Yep. And guess what? It's about a 50-50 chance that I might change my bloody mind. That's right, Internet. I said it.
Luckily, I have friends who are very diverse and who are also very accepting of my choices... I am, after all, an out-of-the-closet atheist. Oh, and a liberal. And a Massachusetts Yankee (living in the Bible Belt). And a hedonist (by nature). And I'm also child-free-by-choice. I don't hide what I am.
So... do you feel like getting together?? Maybe having a couple of cocktails and talking about something interesting?? I'm in - if you are.
Rational dialogue for the win.
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