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It is often hard to give people the attention they duly deserve; we either don’t have the time or just don’t care for those persons opinions. Often our fast paced modern society is blamed for our impersonal nature. However, blaming society is a crutch; it generalizes and removes the conversation away from actually dealing with the problem. I know that many Christians will point at hook-up culture or welfare culture as a specific societal defect, or a testament that society does cause many of humanities ills. Consider this instead: all human evil is composed of humans acting badly.
All wars, strife, revolutions, burnings and miscarriages of justice are not caused by numerous overarching secret societies that manufacture varying forms of oppression, each tailor-made to said societies oddly specific goals. No. All tragedy is caused by petty actions done by selfish individuals. The constant failure of human beings should not discourage anyone, especially the Christian; it’s an opportunity to do something good.
It’s no great secret that people err more than they succeed, many great inventions and technological advances have originated from someone failing, and then recognizing something of worth in the mess. Some would say that this point is naïve, that bad action is wholly wrong and corruptible. I disagree, if the intention is to learn and better oneself by looking at the bad, then there is an inherent value in doing that. That level of cognizance is difficult to achieve, and as humans we will fail in analyzing our failures. This position of looking at the good in all situations is something that is taught by discerning what is good and bad. To understand what is good or bad requires more than one individual’s wit and experience to achieve, but the whole of human knowledge. To gain said knowledge we must give respect to dissenting opinion.
If we afford the respect that people deserve in disagreements then these people will be more likely to accept the truth, just out of the fact that we value their opinions at all. No matter how stupid or insane they are, they should be listened to. It may be the case that they are in the right, and the majority in the wrong, but if those individuals maintain the same respects we give them, then we are all better for it. This axiom in social procedure does not apply for bad action, it is meant to prevent it.
-Josh Sivils
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