It\u2019s time to quit shutting up!<\/p>\n
There, I\u2019ve said it. I almost convinced myself that\u2019s all that I needed to write for this post, but then I decided that I better explain myself.<\/p>\n
You see, I\u2019ve simply had it. I\u2019m fed up with always being the one nice guy in the room. The one who is agreeable with everybody, but doesn\u2019t really state my opinion for fear of insulting somebody. No, that\u2019s not right…it\u2019s too strong a word \u201cinsulting\u201d. It\u2019s more a few of making anybody feel uncomfortable. I\u2019ll speak my peace at home, and my poor family has to put up with my rants. Sometimes I\u2019ll say something to close friends, but when I get into a public forum I\u2019m always nice, polite, and frankly about as bland as they come.<\/p>\n
Over the past few weeks I\u2019ve become a bit more outspoken about some of the things that I believe in. I\u2019ve been particularly outspoken on Facebook lately, and it\u2019s caused some people to be uncomfortable. Sorry, but then again, I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n
You see, I really value discussion and different points of view. It\u2019s part of what makes our society so great. We can have all sorts of different viewpoints, and still get along. But I\u2019ve taken civility too far in the past. I\u2019ve been too quiet when things are being discussed that I disagree with. I\u2019m not saying I\u2019m going to start picking fights, but I am going to state my opinion. And I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m going to be stating it a lot.<\/p>\n
But I do expect a certain type of civility that does seem to be lacking. I\u2019m not going to put up with personal attacks. Not towards me, and not towards others. I don\u2019t have to share your beliefs, views, or thoughts to know that you are completely entitled to them. You\u2019re even guaranteed the right to speak those thoughts. It\u2019s part of what makes this country great.<\/p>\n
Discuss, argue, battle with me. Whatever. Use facts, your interpretation of those facts, and anything else that you want to use. Pull your resources from any source that makes sense to you. I\u2019m more than happy to listen. In fact, I encourage you to make me stretch and squirm a little. Maybe even a lot. I\u2019m not beyond changing my mind about things, and I certainly can\u2019t form my own opinions if I don\u2019t look outside my comfort zone and sphere of knowledge.<\/p>\n
But if you attack me as a person…we\u2019re gonna have a hard time. If you attack somebody in the room with me, I\u2019m going to stand in the gap for them. I won\u2019t attack you in turn, but I\u2019ll certainly help you understand that what you\u2019re doing is not going to pass muster.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019ve said it, it\u2019s time for me to quit shutting up.<\/p>\n
How about you, are you willing to go out on a limb, potentially alienate some friends or new folks, but engage in truly meaningful discourse?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m asking you to think about it and consider taking the risk. It\u2019s the only way that I know that we can grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s time to quit shutting up! There, I\u2019ve said it. I almost convinced myself that\u2019s all that I needed to write for this post, but then I decided that I better explain myself. You see, I\u2019ve simply had it. I\u2019m fed up with always being the one nice guy in the room. The one who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n