Our nation was in full ACCELERATE mode this weekend with “March Madness” games, the youth-led walks across the nation to raise awareness of the desire of “the people” to achieve greater gun control laws, and the celebration of Palm Sunday.
All areas of which there are opposing views. It’s no surprise when I asked one of my dear friends if they had any blog ideas for me, that the immediate response was on how we can best respect differing opinions.
I’m not sure I have any profound thoughts, but my hope would be to get to a better conversation. To truly think through how we honor one another best without allowing our personal opinions to be in overdrive, which often results in the opposite.
Here are my initial thoughts…
- We must “get to” a point of listening with the intent to understand. This is a call to not listen or simply “hear” with the intent to respond.
- We must honor where others come from, remembering that just like us, their opinion didn’t come about overnight. They too have come to the conversation with history and perspective that is true to them.
- We must also be true to our own perspective, and share it when it matters and not be silent. We must share with grace, with subtle power and with love.
There is so much to talk about with this topic, but I believe that if we keep honor in mind first, we can have opposing opinions and continue to push through to a better world for the future generations.
I know this subject all too well. There has got to be a way to have different opinions, discuss them, not come to an agreement, but to still go our separate ways loving and understanding one another.