Quote: On Living and Learning

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”  Muhammad Ali  It is the political and campaign season here in the United States.  Everything ever said by a candidate is examined to see if they are being consistent with what they have proclaimed before.  The biggest charge anyone can lodge against the other is that they “are a flip-flopper.”  Saying what pleases one audience and then saying something different to another.

 

Which brings me to the quote above.  If someone has not changed their views over the course of 30 years it tells me that they are a “fundamentalist” and not open to new information that they did not have previously.  That their experiences are so limited that they have not lived their life fully or engaged with people from different cultures and mindsets than that of their own. 

 

I strongly believe that a “thinking person” will change their opinions over time, one way or another.  Circumstances and the “facts” do change and we must adapt our opinions and beliefs or remain lodged with rigid thinking to the past. 

 

I do not like people with a lack of conviction for what they say or believe, but I do allow for people to change their minds ‘overtime” and give them credit for trying to learn as they live.