I've learned a lot in life from people I disagreed with, but you have to be willing to listen. Having a deep well of intellectual curiosity is a real asset when learning to grow as a person. Limiting yourself to only like-minded people can stunt your opportunities to harvest the richness that those with differing opinions have to offer.

Take this for example.

One day back when I was on Facebook, I got bored and decided to click on and browse random profiles. You can learn a lot about a person by not only watching what they post, but who they follow.

So I ran into this guy from I think, Columbus, or Cincinnati, Ohio. He had 5000 friends, so I'm scrolling, and at first I don't see anything unusual. However after awhile, I begin to notice a "sameness" that I couldn't quite place right there on the spot.

I went through all 5000 (I was really bored), and about a third of the way through, it dawned on me that almost all of his Facebook friends were the same race as he was. Out of 5000 people, 4,998 were the same as him, with only TWO people being from other races.

Doesn't mean much to some people, but I wanted to know why, so I asked him...

Turns out, he didn't INTENTIONALLY, do this, but he'd only hung out with the people in his neighborhood and the ones that they knew as well. He was as surprised as I was at how restricted his worldview had become. Now I'm not speaking of forced diversity or anything like that, I just happen to notice things that are missed by others. That's why I looked at what city he lived in. Maybe he was from a small town in the Midwest dominated by a single ethnic population. But those are two sizable cities, so that 4,998 really stood out.

He admitted that the optics were odd, and when I checked back a couple of months later, he'd updated it with a more varied group of people.

Not that he NEEDED to mind you, he just did.

You are what you eat, and you can be influenced by the people you DECIDE to surround yourself with.

If you're only hanging out with "your own kind" you end up on perspectives offered by others who may not see things the same way that you do. A Latino guy in the inner city might have a very different take on the police than a white guy in the suburbs do who grew up with members of the police in his family.

What might happen if those two decided to get together to talk, and more importantly, LEARN from each other?

I worked with a lady from New York City. She would always say "I got 5 felonies!" This was normal to her, as everyone she hung out with had a packed criminal history. I'm from a much smaller town and grew up in a neighborhood where I didn't know even one person with a felony conviction.

When you're raised in her milieu, you can end up taking on the qualities (or lack thereof), of the people around you, and she did that with gusto.

Another example.

You know those people who only surround themselves with "positive people" and they reject anyone else who might be a 'Canary in the coalmine' and act as an early warning system when things are about to go pear-shaped?

They tend to wall themselves off from even a hint of troubling information, and end up completely unprepared when the SHTF.

You can't give them a heads-up about anything because after all, that's a negative, and they won't allow anything like that into their life.

They remind me of the nutjobs on the Titanic who ignored repeated warnings to abandon ship early on when there was plenty of seats open in the first lifeboats. These pickled-positive-people preferred the warmth of their comfortable cabin to the safety offered in the tiny lifeboats.

Until it was too late.

New Vistas

I'm noticing a trend lately (evernoticethat?) of West Africans starting a new life in Europe and the UK. I can only imagine what it must be like to plant your roots in not only a new country, but an entirely different culture such as our English-based one here in the USA.

The food alone must be a bit of a culture shock as it was to me when I lived in Germany. However, the opportunity for growth must be tremendous in their new adopted country, along with the ability to provide for those living back home.

I'm very excited for those making the trek to the UK, and since England is my favorite country, perhaps I'll join you in that journey myself one day. Many blessings to those who've made it, as I'm feeling the wanderlust as well.

Learners

I like to soak up what my siblings call "useless information." I've always had an unquenchable thirst for why things are the way they are, and have been known to read multiple books at the same time. I'm currently reading six books, and I do this as it prevents me from getting bored by ingesting only one subject at a time.

Whenever some odd situation comes up my siblings will say "I'll bet you he would know something about that!" LOL! and I'll usually end up being able to add something to the situation when it's needed the most.

I also like to hear from people who disagree with me on a subject. I want to know WHY, as I've usually researched it and they may have a new angle that I hadn't thought of. So I'm always open to adding to my knowledge base.

So I always suggest that everyone reach out beyond the confines of your comfort zone and embrace new ideas. Be willing to hear uncomfortable thoughts that differ from your own. Opinions are like tasty morsels in a delicious stew. You'll never know how good a new ingredient will be until you try it.