Saturday, April 17, 2010

Idealism

I admit it, I'm an idealist.
I know we don't live in an ideal world, but I don't think that means that I have to be content with the status quo, or that I shouldn't want something else (or strive to make changes to bring certain of those ideals into reality). I'm not willing to be passive about things that matter to me, and I don't think that's a negative trait.
My opinions, my ideals, are based on thought and study and testimony, not on ignorance or prejudice (though those words have been directed at me recently). I am not ashamed of them, nor do I feel the need to keep them to myself. I'm not trying to 'push' them when I share them, and I'm not trying to insult or offend people who don't agree or fit in with them. I do not expect everyone to agree with me and, in fact, I usually enjoy a healthy debate--so long as everybody is nice to each other and keeps the discussion on the topic rather than making it personal.

As I said, I realize that the world is not ideal. Many of my ideals are not or even cannot be realities here or now. That doesn't mean that they are bad ideals, or that I should stop believing in them, talking about them, or doing what I can to bring change to my world.

4 comments:

Chandelle said...

Jenni, may I ask what prompted this post (and your post on FB)? Just wondering, because I can't find any (very recent) troublesome arguments on your FB page, or here. So maybe they happened somewhere else.

You and I disagree fundamentally on many key issues. But I still like you. :) Having a dissenting opinion is not inherently an indictment of someone else.

Jenni said...

Yes Chandelle, it was a comment-turned-to-debate on someone elses page. I made a comment about something I perceived as 'ideal' and had it thrown back in my face as 'prejudice' it just really stung.

Jenni said...

I should probably clarify that the debate I mentioned there was more of a 'final straw' situation. There have been a lot of discussions I've been involved in lately--most on facebook though not all--on topics ranging from healthcare to gay marriage to single parenting to circumcision. I've been thinking about the general idea behind this post for a while, but it was this last discussion that moved me to actually write it out. Admittedly I am feeling more than normally fragile due to all the other things going on in my life, and probably took comments more personally than I should have. I'm not mad at anybody, I just needed to lay this out in general terms in a safely neutral place like here. :)

mr.brighton said...

Be proud to be an idealist. I have been called an idealist many times like it's a bad thing. I prefer to think that I/we/folks can do anything if truly dedicated to it. So many people make huge sweeping statments and back them up with something like "Well governmnet just can't do that." I like to think it might be hard but we can. So be proud to be an idealist!

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