Maybe we actually SHOULD read this book...?

So I'm reading Six Questions of Socrates, right? Yea, I know, I'm probably the only one that actually reads this book, but I like it. I'm reading "What is good?" and I find it very interesting.

So far there has been a lot of discussion about treating others as human even though they are different in race, religion, or opinion. We must accept others as people even if we differ from them. Just because they aren't exactly the same as us doesn't mean they aren't human. This applies greatly to arguments, or what our scholar's class likes to refer to as "debates." I put the quotation marks around that word because we always shy away from debates because we treat them as if they are arguments in which no one wins and everyone gets hurt. I think we're big boys and girls and can fend for ourselves and depersonalize the points made by others, but it's up to the leaders what we do with our time.

Anyways here is a nice quote from one of the participants of a conversation with Christopher Philips: "Instead of trying to win an argument...we voiced our concerns, but also we really opened ourselves up to the concerns of the other"(166).

What's that? They were able to say what they believe, but also listen and respect an opposing opinion? I didn't think that was possible. I'm not specifically criticizing our scholar's class but society in general. We are often much too self-consumed to look outside of ourselves and examine the lives of others. Their lives are just as important. True, our own personal lives will be more important to us than the lives of others most likely. However, this doesn't mean we can completely disregard others as people. We constantly are thinking about the rights of homosexuals and other groups because the rights denied them are much more obvious. However, everyone has rights that are sometimes disregarded by other individuals. So perhaps we should also be fighting for our own personal rights to live.

It seems kind of silly to do that, doesn't it? It should be a given that we will live how we wish to live. True, we can live how we want, but that doesn't mean others will agree with it. Maybe it's not important to pay attention to what others think about you, especially when its something ridiculous like not liking the way you choose to live. So ignore those who don't accept you the way you are; that's all fine and dandy. However, I challenge you all to not have to be those people that have to be ignored. Accept others for who they are. Love thy neighbor as you would love yourself. Listen, truly listen, to what others are saying. You don't have to agree, but you do have to acknowledge its presence. You could even go a step further and even try to understand it.

For further reading, open up your Six Questions of Socrates book to page 162 and read.