The Undiscovered Country

Unfriend Me If . . .

Every once in a while someone will post, "If you don't agree with me on this particular subject, unfriend me now."

Thankfully these posts are rare, but they nevertheless make me sad, especially when that person claims to be a Christian.

I've only unfriended one person, and that's because she changed her profile picture to a particular politician (who shall remain nameless), and 95% of her posts were so politically divisive, I had unfriend her to keep my blood pressure down. This was before I knew about the "unfollow" button. Had I known about the "unfollow," I would have gone that route instead, and remained her friend. Since then, I've only "unfollowed" one person, because it seemed she posted a link to some cat video (for example) every five minutes. Her time-wasting posts so saturated my feed, I spent way more time than I wanted scrolling to find anyone else's posts.

The only time I will "unfriend" another person is if they physically threaten me or my family. Other than that, opine away.

Now when someone tells me to "unfriend" them due to a difference of opinion, I'll admit I'm tempted. Especially if I indeed disagree with them. I don't, though, because I understand where they're coming from. I don't think they're right to do so (more on that in a minute), but I do understand.

Whenever I'm a bit stuck on how I should respond to others, I look to Jesus as my example (I don't always succeed, but I do try). Many disagreed with him, but he turned away no one. He gave them the riot act for sure, but he never held up his hand and said, "Shut up and go away, because you don't agree with me."

I have many of friends with whom I have stark disagreements, whether it's politics, religion, and a myriad of other topics. Some of them I disagree with from 10% of the time to 90% of the time. And I wouldn't have it any other way. They enrich my life more than I can ever express. I have even altered my own point of view because of theirs at times. If nothing else, they teach me to keep an open mind.

Knowing other points of view - especially those opposite of mine - is not only useful, but necessary to a writer. How am I to write complex characters with opposing views (both antagonists and protagonists) if I don't expose myself to them? By keeping monochromatic friends, I will only be able to write monochromatic characters. If I try to write a character so opposite of me without knowing people opposite of me, I decrease my chances of writing a believable character. Part of the reason I don't attempt to publish a non-fiction book is because I'm not that interesting. Why would I want to constrain myself to write only characters who think and act like me?

We're all different, and it's those differences that make life so darned interesting.