I can be wrong. That realization keeps me from ever simply saying "this is how it is and I will never change my mind". Well, I might say it, but I don't really believe it.
Everything I believe has gone through the wringer. Usually more than once.
I have even questioned gun ownership several times in my life. "What if 'they' are right, and it's a bad idea for 'regular people' to own and to carry guns?" "What if wanting a gun is a sign of mental instability?" "What if the presence of a gun really does put the innocent in more danger?"
The questions lead to a couple of different actions. I begin to consider the possibilities in my own mind. Deeply and constantly. And, I read more about what other people have to say about the matter. Then I take that new information and incorporate it into the mix and think about it all some more.
I have changed my mind, or at least opened myself up to other possibilities, on some big questions in the past. It may happen again.
The thing is, each time I change my mind on something, I move toward more liberty- a stronger respect for individuals to live their lives as they see fit. I have never yet moved away from that toward more control by some over the lives of others.
Each time I go through this process I come to realize even more strongly that respecting liberty really is the best way to deal with other people. I realize that any "system" that ignores this, or fears liberty, is perverted. Even if I might have once found some value in what I now reject.
If this keeps up I'll wind up an anarchist. Oh, wait...
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Willingness to change is a sign of good character as I see it.
ReplyDeleteI'm old (77). I've only been exposed to the internet around 10 years. But in that time my opinions have varied exponentially. In my adulthood (I think around 25 years -- I'm a late bloomer :-[ ) I've been ultra-left, arch-right, pro-Kennedy and the Demopublicans, rabidly pro-Goldwater and the Republicrats. Even did a stint with the George Wallace "movement" in 1968 -- that was the year I refused to vote when the final bell tolled.
Last time I voted was 1964. Texas voters were still paying poll tax.
"...respecting liberty really is the best way to deal with other people..."
That line sez it all.
Sam