In today's world, there’s tension about almost every subject. From politics to social issues, there’s a thousand opinions and, even more, arguments. Healthy debate is one thing; it encourages democracy and leads to new ideas and a better understanding of others.

However, there’s been a trend — the more tense things get, the fewer people seem to be listening.

One phrase has popped up over and over again on News Feeds. The status update starts something like this: “I think that _____ is important and this is why I think so.” Which is great. People should express their beliefs and exercise their freedom of speech. What’s troubling is what they tack on to the end, “And if you think _____, you need to educate yourself.”

Educate yourself. Now, this doesn’t need to be a bad thing: People should be informed. If you’re expressing your opinion, especially in defiance of someone else's, you'd better be able to back it up. But that’s not the intent of the post. The troubling thing that these posts suggest is that if you don’t carry the belief of the person, you are uneducated. If you disagree, you are uninformed. The only way you could possibly carry an intelligent opinion is if you agree.

This is not the way to foster a healthy environment for discussion. Two people can both watch the news, read every article, look up research — and still come up with different opinions. Just because someone doesn’t share your opinion, it does not mean that they are uneducated. It just means that they don’t agree.

Tensions are high. Everyone seems to fight about every issue. But this isn’t the way to come to a resolution. If anyone is ever going to agree, you’ve got to have a healthy discussion. But if you won’t accept someone else’s opinion as valuable, it’s never going to happen.

Educate yourself. Let's talk.