No Room at Inn, Or For Other Opinions

Are we obsessed with being right?

I only ask because it seems like there’s a lot more “sides” than there used to be . . . more causes. And if you don’t line up with that side or that cause, you are . . . what’s the term today, canceled? Or maybe you’re a hater? Dunno, but the idea that you were entitled to your own opinion seems as outdated as seersucker suits and Weejuns – both of which I have in my closet.

Figures, huh? Take the LGBTQ movement – and no, I’m not talking about the Let’s Get Biden To Quit campaign. Seriously, who would want that? I mean are we really thinking Kamala Harris is a step up?

Sorry, just kidding.

Sort of.

If you are one of the regular eight or nine readers of these scribblings, then you’ve gotten my take on the LGBTQ folks. I’ve nothing against them, I just don’t agree with their lifestyle. However, they are all big boys and girls and they have every right to make their own choices.

As do you.

As do I.

And so long as none of us try to make our choices mandatory to someone else, all is well. I learned a long time ago that my rights go all the way to the point where your rights begin. And vice-versa.

Or at least it used to be that way.

Today, whether it’s gay rights, the teachers’ union protesting at the Statehouse, the gun argument or any number of other things . . . the battle lines are pretty rigid. Think not? Tell a group of liberals you’re a conservative – or the other way around – and see what happens next.

What happened to we’ll agree to disagree? No, I don’t mean that dripping-with-sarcasm-rendition of agreeing to disagree. I mean the kind where we don’t see eye to eye, understand that we don’t have to and not let it boil over into a slugfest.

Are we that obsessed with being right, with our side winning?

Let’s be clear. A lot of us walked to school. What’re the next lines . . . uphill . . . both ways? Our memories tend to skew a bit. Perhaps we might ‘member things a bit better than what they actually were? If that is so, forgive us.

But I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that in days’ past, people could disagree without going to Defcon 2.

What’s changed?

Am I sure my version of the world is right? I believe it is, but could I “prove” it in a court of law? Don’t be silly. How do you “prove” love, faith, belief? How do I “prove” the existence of God in heaven? How do I “prove” any of it.

Thing is, I don’t have to. I believe and I believe with all my heart. That’s all that matters.

But doesn’t that also mean that I have to acknowledge and allow others to do the same, even if I think they are wrong, just as surely as they think I am?

Of course.

I’m not sorry we disagree. It’d be a pretty sad world if we all thought exactly the same. But I am sorry that we live in a world where those disagreements have turned so ugly. All I can tell you is I’ll try to do better on mine.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at [email protected].