When the Other Side is Just Wrong

They’ve hurt you before. And what’s more, everywhere you go, it’s a topic of discussion. You’re surrounded by people who tell you the other view is wrong. You see it every day. They make decisions that are harmful to others, destroying even. How could they do it? They’re perpetuating destruction and it has to stop.

You talk with your friends and family, everyone is angry. Everyone. What has the world come to? How did it come to this? It would just be better if the other side were gone, really… there I said it.

Except… you are the other side. And so are your friends. And so are the “they”.

Shutting out people who’ve hurt you personally can be necessary at times. But more often than not, we shut out those we simply don’t agree with. Being challenged feels like being cut. It hurts. It’s unsettling. And it just may make us question if we’re right. It just may change everything we know.

Perhaps though, that’s what we need to have real change. If we’re not talking with people we don’t agree with, we’re part of the problem. We are the other side to somebody.