The Side of Silence

What does one say to someone you respect but vehemently disagree with their veiws on a particular socio cultural issue. I know a ton of people are going to state that respectfully airing my opinion is the appropriate way to go about this, and maybe it is. However, I am not one to engage even on a normal basis. My desire to do so probably died with my once naive dreams of becoming a media personality.

I am not big on engagement, that is a given. I struggle with it more and more these days, and it seems my circle is getting significantly smaller. I cherish those within the circle a lot because they've gotten accustomed to my passive nature and understand me better than most. This write up isn't about them though. It is about my unwillingness to express my views. Of course silence should not be mistaken for consent, but it came solely out of respect before anything else.

Even I do express my views in the moment, I wonder what that would change. When we 'pick a side', we become increasingly hardwired towards those views that makes change extremely difficult. Then of course there is the fact that people are easily offended these days. When I think about the bigger picture am all too happy with allowing people voice out their opinions while I remain a silent observer.