#1 - The Spice of Provocative Conversation

New Year's Day?
being invited to dinner with an old friend was a splendid way to begin the new year...to be seated with similarly intelligent folks (all strangers aside from the inviter) was a real joy....
this brings me to some topics for discussion...i was a real outcast in the group based upon my views on the role of the individual in society, however there was not a moment i felt attacked or devalued because of my opinion...its nice to be surrounded by people you disagree with who are still able to maintain a respectful conversation....
but as much as i felt they were "wrong" on a few issues, i completely believe that they were not only being true to their beliefs, but they were able to justify why their opinions were right for them...and isn't that a large part of why we form opinions? much of contemporary human society has left this ability of informed and intelligent justification in favor of base arguments and unmotivated, uninformed logic....
while much of their philosophy comes from a collective religious belief which they all share (specifics in this instance do not matter) i found that this reigious connection was not a reason for ignorance as many people use it, but a way of developing each others ability to comment on the world around them...i highly applaud this group of people for providing the world with a good example of how to live faith based life...those who know me well might find my appraisal of religious seriousness a little weird, but this was not the blind and insincere faith so much of the world suffers from, this was a true and honest expression of a culture which i do not belong in...and it felt good to be a part of...even for a short time
i still disagree on a fundamental level with some of their political and social beliefs...i still have a distaste for religion and the often mindless drones it generates...but i was able to met a group of strangers who, for once, deserved my respect....
one of the big disagreements was the value of capitalism...i know many people of my generation have given up on capitalism and see it as a corrupt and selfish system...but they fail to see beyond the point of the abusers...i firmly support capitalism and don't care who knows it...call me a right wing nut if you must, but know that i whole heatedly believe that competition and change in seek of better results keeps a society from stagnating far more than other economic systems...and it is an economic system, not a political one...its about the transaction of goods and services, not about the function of society...capitalism at its core is about the growth of the individual, and i stand firmly in the view that i can not begin to assist those around me until i am firmly in control of myself....
i could continue all night with a discussion on it, but all that matters is you know that i may not support what modern leaders have done within a capitalist methodology, but i do support the methodology itself.
take from this what you will, but i venture to think that beginning the new year with a well mannered and intelligent group of people bodes well....

ponder for a moment the last dinner you had in which you were firmly opposed to every other person? was it enjoyable? were they well mannered? who won that conversation? is it possible to win? sometimes we all leave the game at halftime claiming winner by default.