Life Symphony or Band of Bassoons

Several months ago I posted a video (theological in nature) on my Facebook, with which someone did not agree. He commented in a very condescending way about how the message of the video was wrong, which was his personal opinion. He referenced others with PhDs who shared his opinion, in order to give his argument weight.

I chose to confront his condescension.

See I am ok with a difference of opinion from my own. What I cannot stand is when someone attempts, through knowledge, education, gender, or whatever other bias they can come up with, to lord their own opinion over others in such a way to belittle them. No one needs help feeling small. We all fight for security in the knowledge of who we are in this human race.

He denied his condescension. It was a fairly simple exchange. No harsh words. No real drama. It was just a simple conversation, which included apologies.

So here is the kicker. He blocked me. No unfriending. No hiding me from his feed. He flat out blocked me. Now I admit I have had to block someone, one person, for full on harassment (very long story).  I have people hidden. I have even unfriended people, though it is rare. He blocked me for a simple exchange or maybe for a difference of opinion. We apparently do not share all the same theological views.

I am not whining about it, I promise. I knew this person when I was young and were it not for the internet we would probably never have crossed paths again. What is so strange to me is how easily the internet has allowed us to become rear-ends with one another. We have come to believe that anyone who does not agree with me should be banished, cut-off, blocked and rallied against. You can almost hear the screaming "off with their heads" over the tiniest things. When did it become so difficult to hear one another out, to have a civilized conversation, or to at least just agree to disagree. Instead we cuss out people that we don't even know, we block those that we do know, or we attempt to amass a crowd who will stand with us in our Facebook drama. It has gotten ridiculous. It reminds me of middle-school, playing on the black top. One day we were friends, the next day we were enemies. For me middle-school was 30 years ago. I say it is high time we grow up. We are different and that is a good thing. We will not always agree and dare I say that is also a good thing. We each have a part to play in this symphony called life. If we all played the bassoon, it would not be much of a symphony, just a band of bassoons.*



*If you play the bassoon please do not take offense to the use of bassoons in my example. People who play the bassoon are vital to a good symphony. :)