{"id":2650,"date":"2021-02-19T09:32:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T14:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2021-02-19T09:32:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T14:32:04","slug":"a-question-for-my-non-tolerant-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/?p=2650","title":{"rendered":"A Question for My Non-Tolerant Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Today our society has a problem with tolerance. Remember that word? Tolerance\u2026 a word that became quite popular and widely used a number of years ago? Well, where is the tolerance today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After my last post about Biden and Trump, I was FB de-friended within minutes by a person well-known to me. But take note &#8211; my feelings are not hurt. I shed no tears. And I have no thought about calling or writing to beg forgiveness. When you base your life on a set of principles, you need to be willing to count the cost. Probably this person has the same thought. But, here&#8217;s my question to the one who de-friended me and I ask the same to those who have de-friended, ostracized, and rejected others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How does my personal opinion hurt or damage your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"422\" height=\"368\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/no-opinion.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2656\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/no-opinion.jpg 422w, https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/no-opinion-300x262.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 422px) 100vw, 422px\" \/><figcaption><strong>The image speaks for itself!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the question, but as I think through this issue, I say that differing perspectives should not hinder relationships, whether family or friends. What we believe and our resultant opinions are a part of who we are as individuals, but only a part. As human beings we are created with much more. We are a product of our collective life experiences, our education, our environment, and our daily interactions with others. Thoughts and opinions should be considered as only a part of the totality of a unique individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Concerning information, all of us filter what we allow into our lives and rightfully so. It&#8217;s only natural that we seek out media sources that inform and reinforce our personal perspective on matters of importance. As for me, I give equal distrust to all media sources, preferring to watch\/listen to multiple outlets, then synthesize, and come to my own conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Socially, we tend to build our closest relationships around a common set of core values and shared experiences. Family and friend relationships are at the heart of this, but on some occasions it&#8217;s easy to allow our thoughts about the perspective of a person to taint our view of the actual person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1791\" height=\"1244\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/broken-relationship.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2658\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/broken-relationship.jpg 1791w, https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/broken-relationship-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/broken-relationship-1536x1067.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/broken-relationship-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1791px) 100vw, 1791px\" \/><figcaption><strong>Opinion should not break relationship<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So then, where are we headed as a society? In an day of strong opinion, there is a clear division between left and right, Democrat and Republican, and Biden and Trump supporters. However, the damage being done to relationships can be long-lasting and difficult to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note to the one who de-friended me yesterday: Hey, send me a friend request and I&#8217;ll gladly accept &#8211; with no questions asked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u00a9 Jeffery J. Michaels \/ Plain English Publications 2021<br>(Quotations allowed with attribution to this blog)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today our society has a problem with tolerance. Remember that word? Tolerance\u2026 a word that became quite popular and widely used a number of years ago? Well, where is the tolerance today? After my last post about Biden and Trump, I was FB de-friended within minutes by a person well-known to me. But take note &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/?p=2650\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Question for My Non-Tolerant Friends<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmichaels.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}