An "open mind" is literally defined as being receptive to ideas and beliefs that differ from your own. Yet, I have noticed more and more that people often associate an open-mind with the liberal side of the political spectrum and a closed-mind with the conservative side of the political spectrum. I am not saying that someone can't be these things in those political parties, I'm saying that being in said political party does not automatically mean you have an open or closed mind.
Although, that seems to be exactly what people think. I have seen on social media way too often posts saying, "if you're conservative I can't talk to you," or "if you support Donald Trump we can't be friends." Now, if that is what you want to do and how you want to choose who you associate yourself with, then, by all means, you have the right to do that. Just know, that everytime you say you can't talk to these people that hold different political beliefs than you, you are the one with the closed mind. You are the one who is not willing to talk to people with different views than you. You are the one who is not willing to educate yourself on why people believe in something different than you.
Everyone wants to talk, but nobody wants to listen.
If you are not willing to communicate with people to understand their side and why they believe what they believe then you are part of the problem. We should all be making an effort to communicate and learn from those whose beliefs differ from our own. Talking to people with different beliefs who challenge you think a little differently than you normally would are the people you are going to have the best conversations with.
So go out and talk to someone with different beliefs than you and actually learn who that person is. Stop assuming you know exactly who someone is because of their political beliefs. You don't know anyone until you learn their story and why they believe what they believe/ I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with the people you can meet if you stop letting politics separate you from others.
If we want actual change to occur then we need to get over ourselves and what we believe and engage in civil conversation with one another to learn why we all believe what we believe. Telling each other that we are wrong for holding our own opinion is only going to create more of a divide and not lead us to any solution.
