My Better Way Is Better Than Your Better Way

Lately I've been given lots of opportunities to be opinionated, without really having to do much in the way of defending them. Now, when other people express their opinions to me, I'm usually pretty good at hearing them out, then in my mind (usually) categorizing their opinion as "wrong" and substituting their truth with my own.
Until, that is, I got into a discussion about music. It was really easy for me to see why other people liked what they liked, and easy for me to say "that's great - my tastes are a little different, but so what?" It suddenly dawned on me that music had taught me another life-lesson: there is very seldom a black-and-white-right-and-wrong-no-exceptions situation where one person is dead-wrong and the other unequivocally right.
Now, I’m not saying there’s no right or wrong. Far from it. But more often than not, in day-to-day life, there’s just better and worse, and “better” is pretty darn subjective.
Like in music.
So I’ve been watching myself, and the world, to see when things get presented as “wrong” when they’re just different. And I’ve found myself a lot more tolerant, which is good. If you’re Christian, which I am, loving all people all the time is kind of a good thing. When people tell me their political opinions, I think to myself “they like the such-and-such party kind of like they like rap music and Fruit Loops. That works great for them. I like the other party, jazz and Marshmallow Mateys. We’re good friends.”
Forgive my bold comparisons; the whole world right now is proof that religion, culture, and politics are much more serious issues with much more life-impact than music, but I’m sayin’ this: No matter what you think, feel, believe, preach, play, or listen to – let’s all be tolerant and loving. For me, that’s what music is for. For saying “hey, we’re all just people – let’s get together and feel alright!”