{"id":6803,"date":"2016-10-23T08:20:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T12:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6803"},"modified":"2016-10-23T08:20:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T12:20:26","slug":"baseball-politics-respect-for-one-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6803","title":{"rendered":"baseball, politics &#038; respect for one another"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/photo-1472057313365-2c5fd36c02bb.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6804\" src=\"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/photo-1472057313365-2c5fd36c02bb-683x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"photo-1472057313365-2c5fd36c02bb\" width=\"654\" height=\"981\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All it takes is one small whirl through the posts and pages of social media to sense the levels of varied passion and perspective. One thing is most certainly true: we have <strong><em>a lot<\/em><\/strong> of opinions. We have a lot of passion. And our levels of passion regarding various opinion are different than one another.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s actually fascinating. We can learn so much from varied opinion and perspective\u2026 if we are willing.<\/p>\n<p>One unquestionable, seemingly significant obstacle \u2014 and I get it because I\u2019ve felt and believed it deeply at various times \u2014 is that it\u2019s incredibly difficult to learn from varied opinion if we have no respect for the holder of that opinion. If we don\u2019t esteem another, we will struggle learning anything from them. We may even, somewhere in the back of our minds, actually deem the other as unworthy to listen to.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s hard. Let\u2019s continue with our straight talk for a while\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who will vote for Donald Trump.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who will vote for Hillary Clinton.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who won\u2019t vote for either of the two, suggesting they are throwing their vote away.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who kneels during the National Anthem.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who\u2019s upset at those who refuse to stand.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who supports partial birth abortion.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for a person who supports a pro-life position, even in cases of incest or rape.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for any perceived, pro-choice\/pro-life position.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for those who want to increase entitlements, arguably helping the hurting.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Some of us have no respect for those who want to tighten spending, believing continued deficit spending will only drive the eventual downfall of this country.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of us, still, have no respect for the Cubbies. Ouch.<\/p>\n<p>Let me not cast any judgment upon any of the above. There are times I, too, have admittedly struggled with various opposing positions. Because I have struggled with a position different than mine, I have struggled with another who would come to such an opposing conclusion. They see circumstances differently than me.<\/p>\n<p>But let me offer something that\u2019s a little bit hard for me. It\u2019s also something I know to be true\u2026<\/p>\n<p>This electoral season, I have met good persons who hail from each of the above.<\/p>\n<p>Allow me to restate\u2026 I have met persons I deeply admire and respect, who hold each of the above 10 stances. While I, too, certainly have well-crafted opinions \u2014 and I have opinions that differ than many of those above \u2014 my empathy and compassion for the different has grown me incredibly.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s allowed me to focus on someone other than self.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s kept me <em>(mostly \u2014 touch\u00e9)<\/em> humble.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s made me recognize that I don\u2019t have all things all figured out.<\/p>\n<p>And along with my guiding, empowering, authentic faith, it\u2019s given me peace.<\/p>\n<p>Years ago, I could not stand the Chicago Cubs. I\u2019m sorry; I mean no offense. I\u2019m just being honest. My friends who are Cubs\u2019 fans \u2014 including several actually within my family \u2014 would go on and on about this woeful team from the north side of Chicago, and I could care less. I would not listen well. I didn\u2019t like those Cubs. I did not like them in a box; I did not like them with a fox. I did not like them, Sam I Am, even if their infield was anchored by significant Law and Grace.\u2028\u2028 But a funny thing happened, when I was willing to listen\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m still not really a Cubs fan. The Cincinnati Reds will always be dearest to my heart; the two compete fiercely against one another. But I see my friends and family, cheering this talented team on. And I get it. They have valid reasons to cheer. So I sit back, silently, watching the games. My team isn\u2019t there; my team isn\u2019t winning. But I can see why they like their team; and I can see, yes, why they don\u2019t prefer mine. It\u2019s not how I think, but I am intentionally taking the effort and stillness to understand.<\/p>\n<p>Funny\u2026 when they cheer, I cheer, too. But it starts with a commitment to listen to those who feel differently than me.<\/p>\n<p>Respectfully\u2026<br \/>\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All it takes is one small whirl through the posts and pages of social media to sense the levels of varied passion and perspective. One thing is most certainly true: we have a lot of opinions. We have a lot of passion. And our levels of passion regarding various opinion are different than one another. &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6803\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;baseball, politics &#038; respect for one another&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6809,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions\/6809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}