Recently, I learned that a good friend and I have completely different points of view on one particularly sensitive issue. Over lunch and a walk through the park, we engaged in several hours of discussion... not so much trying to change the other's mind or make a convincing enough argument to pursuade one another, but it was more along the lines of needing to understand the opposite point of view (even if agreeing with it seemed completely out of the question).
Although it may often feel safer and more "neat & clean" to surround yourself with others who think like you do, have the same political opinions, enjoy the same movies - I believe it may be much more important to also have in your life a few people (or more!) with whom you can disagree, have intelligent debates, and therefore expand your own circle of belief. And if you come to those moments of intense conversation from a place of honest love and respect for one another, those are the moments that can "grow" you as a human. That can stretch you into the person you are becoming. That can even guide you to a place where you're able to more deeply define your own truths.
I am incredibly grateful for those kinds of friends.
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