What if you don't agree?

1. "I understand his viewpoint," she said. "And he understands mine." ...and she left it at that...that was Laura Bush, speaking to Larry King about her differences of opinions with her husband George W. Bush, regarding the issues of gay marriage and abortion rights. She thinks one thing; he thinks another thing. They disagree.

2. Disagreeing is not a bad thing. Understanding, before disagreeing is good thing, if one can do it. But, a lot of people just don't have the patience for it. That's a bad thing. Living with disagreement ~ agreeing to disagree ~ is what makes it a survivable thing.

I really don't know how easy I would be to live with if my husband disagreed with me on tons of things. I don't think I'm real opinionated or anything. I might have strong opinions, but I do respect someone's right to have strong opinions, or just plain ~ be wrong. Hah~! Isn't that what you call it when someone disagrees with your opinion? Oops. Okay. That's not polite.

3. Back to being polite:

Learning how to disagree is a necessary skill for moving through life easily. One should begin to accept that one can survive should someone disagree with their opinion on something. It took me awhile, but I learned this. It's really okay for my friends and loved ones to be wrong, oops, I mean, disagree with my opinion.

What it is, I think, is getting old. I just don't worry about it so much any more. I'd rather be polite.

What I have seen is that people with really, really strong opinions in one direction often turn out to be wrong in the long run. Life just does not go in one direction. I'm not sure why that is. You can try to make it so, but it just seems that life just sort of zig-zags in and out and back and forth and all around, and never gets done.

No one is really around long enough to know if they are right. Really. They aren't. You're here for a little while, and then you go. Somewhere. And maybe when you get there, you'll be right about all the things you thought you were right about, and you'll find a bunch of people who agree with everything you think and say and believe.

I just want it to be peaceful. I have my beliefs, and I am comfortable with them.

You can disagree with me all you wish. You can say I'm wrong. You can call me crazy. I hope you wouldn't say it too loudly because that would be embarrassing. Just whisper to yourself, if you feel that you must. And, go ahead and laugh out loud. It would probably be good for you.

4. "When you run into someone who is disagreeable to others, you may be sure he is uncomfortable with himself; the amount of pain we inflict upon others is directly proportional to the amount we feel within us."
~~Sidney J. Harris