If I only had the noive....

Please pardon the Bert Lahr impersonation in the title, it might not translate too well in written form.

Today I was divine courage, thought didn't find much cause to use it. Except the courage to walk down the aisles of junk food at the grocery, and the strength to not buy anything.

I did however watch friendships of 20+ years disintegrate in a fireball of nasty words on facebook.
I like the fact that most of the time, I can state my opinion, hear a contrary opinion, and agree to disagree. Often, I will ask some questions regarding the other opinion. Not to be contrary, but because I like to be educated, and am interested in where the opposing opinion comes from. I may change camps, or again, just be content to agree to disagree.
I like facebook. Probably spend way too much time there. But I see it as a lighthearted lark. I like to see peoples' status updates - "So and so is celebrating a birthday"..."rotten day, hear moosetrack icecream and grey's anatomy calling my name"...." wishes the rain would stop"....quick, whimsical, sometimes nonsensical glimpses into their lives.

One person I know made a statement regarding the Israeli incident last week. Another person I know replied. Someone I don't know joined the commentary. It became a 3 way conversation, with name calling and hostility growing. Another friend joined in towards the end. The end result was that the whole thread was deleted, but not until well after the damage had been done, and people were "defriended".

This is obviously a hot topic. People were asking questions that were not being answered. People were so intent on making their point, they weren't reading what the other person had actually written.

Sometimes I feel... almost weak, because I don't have convictions that I would fight to the death over. Though maybe it's not that I don't have these convictions as much as I don't have the combative and confrontational nature to fight. But isn't it a mark of strength to sit with someone whose opinion is directly opposite to yours, and look beyond that?