Monday Morning Motivation - Understanding vs. Accepting
Are you open-minded enough to BOTH understand others AND accept that we all have the right to our own opinions?
Hopefully the message below will help you get off to a good start for the week. Please feel free to forward the newsletter on to others that you think would benefit from the content.
Understanding vs. Accepting
(Special note – Today's topic was motivated by my good friend Dave Deetjen. Dave's been incredibly helpful in helping me grow in so many ways and I appreciate him very much!)
Today I am making a break with the "single word" theme of MMM and talking about two words and the importance of them relative to each other—understanding and accepting.
In today's society, we are facing—in my opinion—a really nasty phenomenon. We are being asked to ACCEPT things that we may not personally believe in. That is wrong in my opinion. Our country was founded on the principle of freedom —and freedom of thought is perhaps the dearest of all of these freedoms. To ask that we ACCEPT things we do not believe in is downright un-American.
Conversely, I believe that we ARE demanded as a nation to seek to understand different viewpoints. Not everyone believes the same things we do—no problem. However, to dismiss others who do not share similar viewpoints is equally un-American—again my opinion!
The key to living amicably in a diverse nation such as ours is to recognize that there is a big difference between being asked to "seek to understand" alternative thoughts and perspectives of others—versus being asked to "accept" other thoughts and perspectives as our own.
No one should have the right to tell us what we think. (Side note: If my kids read today's blog post, I'm going to have to deal with some serious repercussions from my behaviors over time on certain topics!)
Ironically, I believe that there are some that would challenge my basic premise and brand me as unreasonable and narrow-minded for even suggesting the above perspective. I literally cannot help but laugh when I think of this challenge and the irony that it embodies. Ah the joys of political correctness!
That brings us to this week's question:
- Are you open-minded enough to BOTH understand others AND accept that we all have the right to our own opinions?
Thanks for sharing a bit of your time with me this Monday morning.
Have a great week!
Curt
Note: Each week I publish "Monday Morning Motivation" in the hopes that at least one person will find a bit of inspiration and that this inspiration will have a positive impact on their life. My motivation comes from experiences, reading, sermons, and discussions. Photo credit: Erik Lindgren on unsplash.com
Blog post from this past week:
Monday Morning Motivation – Resilience
F5 Financial
F5 Financial provides fee-only financial planning services to Naperville, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Aurora, Oswego, Geneva, St. Charles, Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Lisle, Chicago and the surrounding communities. Curt Stowers is a fee-only financial planner. He is a Certified Financial Planner (has passed the CFP® examination). Contact or visit Curt at his Naperville location.
We'd love to have the opportunity to hear about your situation. Send us an email or give us a call to find out more about next steps.
Helping You With
Wealth Preservation – Wealth Enhancement – Wealth Transfer – Wealth Protection – Charitable Giving
Visit Us At
50 South Main, Suite 200 Naperville, IL 60540
Contact Us At
(630) 474-5213 or email
