There is no truth, there is only perception

Gustave Flaubert said it best when he said that "there is no truth, there is only perception." I recently had a discussion with a gentleman that promptly lead to a heated political debate. This man is a very far right wing conservative and I find myself to be a centrist, with liberal tendencies on some issues, and conservative on others. The way I classify myself as a centrist astounded this man as it is his belief that people are "black and white" in respects to being liberal or conservative, with little to no gray area between. Well after having my political standings described as misinformed drivel I promptly struck back.

WE ARE ALL GRAY AREA! This world is made up of people of all walks of life. Different races, colors, creeds, orientations. It is impossible to generalize the thoughts and beliefs of billions of people into two generalized categories. The spectrum of people on this world is vast, exceeding 6.5 billion now, and I find it rather ignorant to believe that you don't have in that 6.5 billion very different individuals.

This particular gentleman found it more disturbing that I could have anything in the way of liberal tendencies. In his mind, liberals are everything that is wrong with this country and will eventually be the downfall of our government, a sentiment which I grew up with. When questioned about specific liberal beliefs we settled on the topic of gay marriage. I happen to be for it. Though I am not myself a homosexual, my best friend happens to be. I've never seen him as any less of a person than I am, and therefore I believe he should have all the same rights that I enjoy. This idea was of course appalling, to say the least, to the gentleman. Though he claims to be accepting of all people, he gives away his own hypocrisy when he would deny them the same freedoms that he partakes of. The argument became very heated at this point with me feeling as though I was fighting for the honor of my friend and this man struggling to prove me wrong. He then said, "well if you're going to redefine marriage as being between same sex couples as well as 'normal couples' then were do you draw the line?" It was at this point that I replied "if you say what about between a man and a goat I will leave." He quickly replied with the scenario of a man and a sheep and I promptly stormed out, realizing that this was a one sided debate with a completely closed minded and ignorant individual.

I got in my car and left, furious at the ignorance and intolerance some people still possess, even in such a progressive age we live in. As I thought to myself of the argument I thought that this man is the personification of everything that is wrong with this world. Blind intolerance of people can be found at the heart of every war, every dispute. Our need to be right, true, and just tends to out way our ability to reason. What many people fail to realize is that most people are good, true, and just in their own right. The couple who adopts a child believes that they are doing the right thing in giving an unwanted person a good life just as the biological parents do when they are trying to be part of the child's life years later when they realize the mistake they might have made. The man fighting overseas in defense of those who cannot defend themselves believes he is just as just as the man who fights against him in the name of God who's will he believes is to crush the infidel. The man arguing for gay rights out of love for his comrade believes he is just as right as the man who would argue that a homosexual union would be an abomination to God...

It was at this point that I realized my own hypocrisy. All the while that I was arguing for my own beliefs I failed to realize that I was also saying that this man's beliefs weren't valid, just because I disagreed with them. As much as I might strongly disagree with this man, he is still part of the broad spectrum of people that I was arguing the tolerance of, and has just as much a right to them as myself. I was very humbled. There is no truth in life, there is only perception of what is right and just. This is not to say, of course, that we should not still act according to our own moral compass. If a man decides to gas thousands of his own people I can concede that it is reasonable to end his reign of terror for example. However, what I do urge is that we all be willing to educate ourselves about our fellows. Blind intolerance is the path of ignorance, and many conflicts could be resolved if people would be more willing to learn and reason than to blindly hate. Every man is just in their own mind, as I am in mine. It is only our perception that differentiates.