Opinions on opinions.

Sometimes when I hear that people resort to violence due to another group of people disagreeing with them, I just shake my head sadly. Debate is actually something I'm passionate about, because I love seeing the thoughts and inputs of other classmates who come from different backgrounds, states of mind, and experience. I have never been bothered by debate unless it degrades to mudslinging, or if the opposite side refuses to submit substantial reasons, which is usually not the case.

I love constantly questioning my morals and perceptions. Socrates has always been one of my favorite philosophers due to his belief in critical thought. I believe that a person who can truly debate is one who is open to allowing their beliefs to completely change from one minute to the next if given substantial evidence that they trust and resonate with. I have always allowed my beliefs to be swayed if I felt the person arguing had a valid point.

During my high school career, there were times when I was chastised for being so open-minded. There are those that tend to believe that just because I can change my mind easily I am simply living in the moment, and that I have no hard roots in my morals. The truth is I think that's rubbish. We are all constantly-changing organisms, down to our very body chemistry. To assault someone verbally or physically because they do not share your opinion seems odd to me.

Our base morals are given to us at a very early age, such as "Do not steal", "killing is wrong", and "drugs are bad". People in different situations have variations of these morals, but the basis usually remains intact. Now, these are the morals that most people, from the beginning of civilization, were instilled with. As modern day came about, we went from opinions on slavery, women's rights, medical insurance, etc etc etc.

Such beliefs are for the most part based on the time a person happened to be brought up in. Tolerance is something that has always been idealized, but ultimately difficult to attain. I cannot and will never be angry with someone for not believing that something like, say, gay marriage should not be allowed. My opinion may be that it should be, but those are my reasons fed by morals that I was raised on in California, where everyone is a little bit of everything, AND during the millennium. It is always a person's choice, and I will never be able to see what life is like through their eyes.

Philosophy revolves around the fact that there is an infinite amount of truths, and I wish that instead of everyone believing we have the only one, we would strive to understand the reason for those trillions of other truths. We all have methods to our madness, and we should take less time patronizing the side we don't understand and take more time to try to see WHY they believe what they do.