A Marketplace of Echoes

Response Questions:

1) Will our society ever come to a place where we all will agree on issues such as, religion or political views?

2) What are some ways that we as a country can have "tolerance"?

3) What is the solution to avoid feeling as if your views are being attacked on the Internet?

I wanted to address Question #1. Its hard for me to feel like I relate to many of the issues brought up in the article. But mainly to the Internet in general, idea of politics, and opinions about social issues. Sometimes I feel as if I am not very educated about lots of the social and political issues in our nation. I tent to keep to myself. Meaning that I don't, for example, watch Fox News or the Presidential debates. You might say that that makes me ignorant and oblivious to these things. But I feel as if I just have more important things to worry about in my life than what Bill is being passed in congress as we speak. My father is a lawyer and worked in Washington DC for many years doing work on the Reagan administration. I wish I was more like him in the sense of being educated about our government. At the same time, as I mentioned I have other things that are of higher value.

It is interesting after a national event, people tend to use the internet sites and blogs as a way to vent their feelings. I saw countless people post Facebook statuses about gun control after the Connecticut Sandy Hook School Shootings. Although that might have been a valid point in some ways, I just don't believe that the internet is the place to voice those frustrations or opinions.

It is my hope that the people of our nation could somehow one day find a common ground. If we lived in a perfect world that would be the case in every issue. But the bottom line is that we don't. We have to just focus on the small scale that will eventually play out into a national scale. For example, in our own lives. Start practicing tolerance in situations when you do not share the same view as someone else. I'll give an example from my own life. I have been a Christian for 2 years now. Although a short time, my beliefs and my heart are radically changed. I would never judge or condemn someone who didn't share the same beliefs as me. I choose to live my life and see that I cannot change other people's beliefs. We all need to live our lives in tolerance of others and have reverence and respect for one another.