Do you know the roots of the know-it-alls? Stubbornness.
If people had been more open-minded about each other’s idea, there would have been no war. And I’m not saying war should be something in a large scale. I’m saying it can be in a smaller scale.
Like among your group of friends, for example.
I’m a living example of why some people are afraid to speak up their opinions. For me, it’s something more than just not being heard. It’s about not being respected for doing it. That’s why I don’t tell my opinions to others often. I live in Indonesia, where the topic of LGBTQ is still taboo to talk about. My friends have talked about it numerous times, but most don’t really support the idea of its existence. I, on the other hand, think differently. In a group consisting of eight people, my opinions won’t matter. And it happened once when I spoke about how I had thought the community needed our support more. But they attacked me with arguments, constantly trying to convince me otherwise. Their stubbornness got the better of them, and I didn’t like that for one second they didn’t even want to listen to what I had to say. However, I didn’t argue back further. I just listened so that I could know their perspectives. I wanted to be more open-minded. I didn’t agree with them, but I definitely respected their opinions. I couldn’t change their thoughts about it, but I certainly got to know that some people still had disagreements regarding my opinion. Moreover, they are my friends, and respecting and listening to each other should have gone both ways.
We can’t avoid stubbornness. For some people, they are just born with strong beliefs of certain things. It’s something inevitable. But do we have to allow its presence at all times with us? No. We have to know when to allow it and when not. People tend to always allow their stubbornness gets the better of them. I mean, what’s the point of ignoring another’s idea about something? Certainly, it won’t harm the living hell out of you. You can stick to your argument, but don’t be too persuasive that you think your argument is better than everybody else’s in the room.
It’s not healthy.
And truthfully, who wants to be friends with stubborn people? No one. Stubbornness leads to hatred. In a world that’s already too divided, at least we can try to fix something within ourselves first if we want to unite the it. Be more open-minded on things. Let yourself learn about another one’s perspective, see if there’s some truth, fact, or information that should be considered. Believing that your opinion is the only one that seems logical and the only one that matters is not healthy for others, especially for yourself. What’s the point of trying to unite the world when we can’t unite ourselves with other people around us?
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