Agreeing to Disagree

Like many of you out there, I keep a large list of websites in my Reader. I add new sites to my Reader every now and again. But for the most part? I keep the ones that I've read from the beginning. When I started blogging myself almost six years ago.

There's one gal that I keep up with. She's funny. She's got two cute kids - a matched pair like mine. And at the moment, she's got some negative posts going her way. Why? Because she wrote something about being a conservative blogger. And truth be told? I am also very conservative.

I've never been one to follow a blogger because they have the same beliefs as I do. I actually read a BUNCH of men and women whose lives are vastly different than my own. Why? Because I find an element about their style, about their lives, or about their feelings that I can relate to.

I was brought up to respect what others believe. Oftentimes, I'll read something on someone's site and am just amazed that they did what they did. Or they reacted the way that they did. But that's their life. Folks who write stuff that I don't agree with don't need to hear from me. It's their choice to do what they do. Their blog is a way for them to express themselves. To get things off their chest. So I choose to only leave positive comments.

And I think it's about being respectful. And that's how I'm trying to bring up my kids. We're all different. We're not all cut from the same cloth. We're like snowflakes. When you look at a blizzard, the snow looks the same. You can't distinguish one from the other. It's just a whole mass of flakes. But when you take the time to compare snowflakes? Each is different. Not one is alike. And that's like us. We all live in the same country. We may have grown up in the same city. We may have attended the same high school. But we're different. Unique.

But everyone chooses to be who they are. To be nice in this virtual world. Or to stir up unkind feelings. Can we all just agree to disagree?