A World In Need of Harmony
Photo depicts a pile of rocks balancing, indicating harmony, from Preaching Academy.
Ella Packer
“The fault lies not with the vision but with the closed windows. If you look out of only one opening till the day you die, you'll never see anything new” – Sarat Chattopadhyay.
In a world with many different religions, cultures, and ideologies, it is important that we see and understand different perspectives. According to Psychology Today, in order to resolve conflict constructively, so that all parties are satisfied with the outcome, a person must be able to hold all the opposing ideas, positions, and perspectives in mind at the same time and still function effectively.
Easier said than done. Commonly in our world, people have a lot of trouble listening to others’ beliefs, merely because of the fact that they are so close-minded that they believe that their way is the only way. And that is the problem…You will find that in a world like ours, nobody will fully agree with everyone and everything, but understanding the reasoning behind someone’s beliefs is extremely important.
In Hamilton High School, there is a clear divide between groups of people, especially when it comes to politics. And it’s honestly quite sad that people feel like they can’t talk to someone else because they may have different beliefs or feel like they have to act just like the group of people they want to be friends with because they feel like they won’t accept them as they are.
Let’s take the mask mandate and Covid as an example: A lot of people are very quick to judge others for wearing a mask or being vaccinated, vice versa. However, people have the choice to do what they want.
The problem isn’t whether you are vaccinated or not; the problem is that we struggle to acknowledge that others have different standpoints on topics, and just because someone might not have the same views does not make them a bad person.
A part of your identity is having your own ideas and your own beliefs, and a good person will be willing to listen to those beliefs without completely shutting you out. Nobody will agree with everything someone says, but that is a good thing. That’s where new ideas are formed and that’s when greatness can happen.
I want you to imagine a world where everyone believes the same thing; no need for talking about ideas, no need for learning about new concepts, no need for an election. In this scenario, we would just be a world of robots.
Sometimes, when listening to others’ perspectives, it can allow you to look into your own thoughts and beliefs and may cause you to change for the better, because you may realize something that you originally thought was right, isn’t actually.
For example, I’m sure at one point in time everyone has been in a fight with a parent, grandparent, etc, over not being able to go somewhere or do something. We are so quick to believe that our parents don’t want us to have fun or that our parents are just being mean by not letting us go. However, in reality, it is the exact opposite. I asked my parents the main reason why they might say no to me going out, and here is what they said:
“It’s not that we don’t want you to go out and have fun; sometimes we just want you to be home so you can be with the family because we love you and want to spend time with you.”
Sometimes it’s easy to be blinded by your own thoughts or assumptions. In that case, I was blinded by the fact that I couldn’t go somewhere and came to the conclusion that they won’t let me go because they don’t want me to have fun. But in reality, they just wanted to spend time with me.
In order to know the truth or find the truth, we must see things from different perspectives. We can’t spend our whole lives believing there is only one right answer.
"The greatest tragedy for any human being is going through their entire lives believing the only perspective that matters is their own" –Doug Baldwin.
