2006-10-01 07:54:27 · 5 answers · asked by Mary Everleen G 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
People can begin to understand beliefs and behaviors different from their own by:
• Having an open mind. This means accepting others as they are and not judging them. Leave judging to God.
• Listening to reasonable people. Try to ignore people who seem to be unreasonable, you do not want to understand unreasonable things anyway.
• Imagining walking a mile or a lifetime in their shoes. What would you be like if you grew up in a different belief system or culture?
• Looking for similarities. There is much common ground between different beliefs and cultures. How to they treat their children and aged?
• Not freaking out about differences that do not really matter.
With love in Christ.
2006-10-01 12:37:54 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Walk a mile in another person's shoes. You can read all you want, you can watch all the movies and television shows, but until you experience it first hand you'll never learn. There are some things that simply cannot be experienced. A white person will never understand what it is to live with discrimination. A Christian would never know the ferver of faith brought on by a lifetime of zealous schooling. A terrorist will never understand what an average westerner believes and feels about freedom. A conservative will never understand the love of humanity a strong liberal has nor will a liberal understand a conservatives view of government.
Live and let live only works if all peoples adhere to it.
2006-10-01 15:16:56 · answer #2 · answered by sparkletina 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Musicman: your answer was great until you brought up the terrorist part. According to your implied definition, a terrorist is someone who is not a westerner. In my definition it's someone who creates terror.
In order to understand other people's beliefs, we need to know and understand why they feel the way they do and believe what they believe, instead of just labeling them terrorists because they don't like us.
2006-10-01 15:26:41 · answer #3 · answered by The Gadfly 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One way to understand is research. Knowing mean you are more apt to understand. The other is simple human empathy. Placing your self in another person's shoes can make all the differ.
2006-10-01 15:16:14 · answer #4 · answered by Iriane 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
knowledge-the root of all understanding.
2006-10-01 14:57:35 · answer #5 · answered by lookn_4_laffs 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋