closemindedness (2)

i like to think of myself as a liberal. i like to pride myself on my openness, on my ability to accept the margined and outcast. i'm pro-choice, pro-choose your own sexual orientation, pro-any other way of loving outcasts. but maybe i'm not pro-conservatives. and maybe that's an issue.

as i work in the kitchen, make my own clothes, and put people back into every aspect of who i live, i wonder if in some ways i am not conservative too. i want to conserve our planet, conserve our family values, conserve the ability to actually converse with one another in person and build real relationships.

today i had the opportunity to stand up for those values, in the form of what i thought would a protest for stoves in the dorms. i went with my defenses up and my arguments stacked. ready to confront a conservative and make him see the light of day. or so i thought.

i was shocked that the first words out of this supposedly conservatives mouth where "i going to listen". and he was serious. he listened, and actually considered adopting a change. first of all, i wonder why i expected him to be a conservative. and second, why i expected a conservative not to listen.

sometime last week one of my other selves wrote a blog about closemindedness. she was frustrated with people who couldn't think outside their own head. sometimes i wonder if that isn't me.

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