Last Saturday I went for a run in the morning. A mile away from home I saw a truck on the other side of the still empty street. Next to it stood an older guy who seemed to be having a discussion with a slightly drunk hipster. The truck was full of large images of bloody babies. And I read something like "Abortion gives you breast cancer." The older guy who owned the car seemed to be an expert in that matter, I mean, him being a person with neither a uterus nor breasts and, I suspect, no medical degree or any knowledge of obstetrics or gynecology. Like so many self proclaimed experts in the field of abortion.
I had it. I took out my ear bud and yelled at the guy: "You keep the hell out of my uterus. You don't get to decide what to do with unborn babies because, YOU don't have one! Once you've had your first pregnancy and had to struggle with the decision to abort, you get an opinion!" He started to respond but I just shook my head and kept running. The hipster guy was obviously amused and gave me a thumbs up.
Immediately after, I knew that that had been a stupid idea. You just cannot argue with people like that. If anything, he must have felt encouraged by me. One more person to convert. He certainly didn't hear or let alone consider (or even considered to consider) what I yelled at him. And the fact that I yelled it didn't help either. I must have been just one more sheep on the wrong path for him.
There is just no arguing with radical people. And radical includes politically as well as religiously or just plain stupid. You can't. They will not listen to what you are saying. They are so set in their beliefs and opinions that they don't even hear anything that doesn't align with or supports those. They might just be lazy or scared. It's not easy to try to understand a new point of view. To really listen to arguments and facts and then go ahead and find out more, research, gather all the facts and other opinions and then, finally, come to a well informed conclusion. Such as, yes, we are fucking up our planet and the sea levels are rising and the poles are melting. Let's DO something about it. It's hard to change. It took years and years, a whole lifetime to build that system of beliefs and opinions. Listening and maybe even accepting someone else's opinion or just the facts could negate their whole existence! And who wants to realize they were wrong for more than 69 years? No one. And so they keep going, fighting, and arguing for what they believe is the right thing. And nothing, no statistically significant studies, not millions of people with a different opinion, no hard facts, no bombing with drones or shooting with guns, and of course no yelling at them from across the street will get them to give you even one inch, not even a centimeter.
Fortunately, there are people who are willing to change. And the interesting thing is, once you did, it really doesn't feel like you've lost or wasted your life so far. Sure, there's this short moment where you go, WTF, if I had only done this when I was younger! But then you look ahead and are happy that you were able to make it at all. Because that is what makes really good and smart and compassionate people: they don't cling to and worry about the past and they don't hope to have a better life in some distant future or in heaven. They live today! And they give their best to make life better for everyone. Today. Now!
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