I think I live a self-imposed sheltered life. I know there are people in the world who approach life differently than I do. I just don't know many of them. And I think that's on purpose. I realized today that I have severely limited my social circles to people that think as I do. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people to debate with over a beer. But even those Master Debaters operate within the same wide boundaries that I do. There aren't many (any?) in my inner circle who would take drastically different positions that I do on most issues. And I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Granted, I do have people in my life that I've known and loved forever that are VERY different. But we have (for the most part) figured out how to peacefully co-exist without incident. And of course, there are biological family members that span the spectrum - landing mostly in places far from where I do.

But those who are not already "in" aren't likely to get in. Maybe it is that as I've grown older, I've become less tolerant. Maybe I don't think those folks have anything to teach me. I've noticed that rather than seeing "learning moments" in those instances when it becomes clear that someone operates in a different space that I do, I shut down, turn off and hit "delete", never again to hear anything they have to say. Or if I do hear it, I take it with a grain of salt.

There are just some things that are not worth debating for me any more. Religion, for example. I've thought it through, refined my thinking. Researched. Read. Reread. I've asked people how they came to believe what they do and really listened to their ideas. And I'm pretty sure that there isn't anything that anyone could say that would change my point of view. I'm always interested in learning more about people's religious beliefs & customs, but new information no longer goes through my "Does this work for me?" filters. I would be willing to debate politics if I could find someone on another side of an issue that I felt had a solid argument to debate. Unfortunately, those who have a sound argument are usually on my side of the issue (sometimes data will do that).

Perhaps I need to invite some new thinking in to my life. Or, not.......