Heads or Tails

As I sat in my chair totally excited about the New Year, trying to figure out how I could of possibly have gotten this buzzed off of two glasses of white wine, off in the distance I could hear people arguing. Seemingly the voices seemed like they spoke out of the funnel. As I slowly started to tune in I started to discern that they were arguing about the Middle East Crisis. As I took a sip of my water bottle, I recognized one of the voices; one of them was my good friend, a human rights advocate. She was arguing her point to some boy, which decided to play devil's advocate with her. In my mind as I tried to compose my thoughts which almost seemed impossible because after all I was under the influence, I was trying to gather support arguments in her favor and wondered how did we go from playing an awesome game of Kings to talking about the Gaza Strip. Perhaps it could of been all of the alcohol consumed before the stroke of midnight but the fact was that these people were talking politics and politics to me is a very touchy subject especially when we have passionate opinions about war and government, but also when we are arguing about it during New Year's Eve.

As I zoned into the conversation, I could here someone call my friend a manipulator. I quickly defended her and was perplexed by this comment, because it was a matter of prospective. My friend was simply arguing her point and in a debate the argument is won when a person makes the strongest argument, but then again who is to say which side is right or wrong. In this case the debate can easily be answered by the measurement of loss of human life, but how about in other situations. As a person that has a strong opinion about everything, I feel it is almost always a matter of perspective. I have learned that an event with different witnesses can have many different descriptions.


More than a year ago, I myself was in an argument, where my words were taken completely out of context. Months later when the person finally confronted me about things I said, I was completely stunned by their interpretation of what I had actually said. What that person perceived of my words was almost nowhere near the point I was actually trying to make. Comically, I started to realize the reason why that person took such a long time to accept my apology.


I then started to learn that the idea of perspective can take you in so many directions. So when I start to argue my point I try to make it as clear as possible, in the hopes that we are on the same page and my feelings and opinions will be completely understood. I also try not to argue under the influence of alcohol or with a devil's advocate for that matter.

My rundown is that when people are arguing their case, they are not necessarily a manipulator, they are just expressing their opinion. I accept people's opinion at face value and if their points are valid will take them into consideration, because after all who is to say that there are right or wrong answers to life sometimes. Perspective is formed by our upbringings and our conformation to the norms of society and thats why no two people are alike.