There have been several controversial issues consuming the citizens of our country over the past few months.
The controversy of the Confederate flag, the legalization of same-sex marriage, gun control and police brutality are only a few examples.
Another popular issue which has been highly disputed lately is Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce. Many people argue if it is right for Jenner to transition into a female.
In addition, she won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the EPSY Awards, presented by ESPN, which sparked more controversy.
It has been speculated Jenner’s winning of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award was the result of a public relations deal. If these rumors are true, this complicates the debate even further, leading many to believe Jenner has come out solely for publicity.
However, regardless of our stance for or against such issues, and also regardless of others’ stance, we believe everyone should be more accepting of others’ opinions.
To many, this may seem like a simple, obvious task.
Unfortunately, it seems common for some, whether this be an individual or group of people, to be unaccepting of others’ viewpoints on certain topics.
If for no other reason aside from showing respect toward another, be accepting of other people’s rights to different viewpoints, regardless if you accept something or not.
Concerning Jenner’s decision to become a woman, we are not all going to have the same opinion.
However, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and we need to be respectful toward each other.
In the case of Caitlyn Jenner, it seems the people who are advocating the most for acceptance of her decisions and the LGBT community as a whole are often the same people who are not accepting or understanding when one is not able to accept Jenner’s lifestyle choices.
It feels like we are being told to accept everyone, until someone disagrees with you.
Being in the South, and the Bible Belt in particular, Auburn tends to be conservative. In fact, Auburn University was said to be the most conservative school in the nation by The Princeton Review in 2013.
With many religious and conservative- minded people here in the South, it seems more likely for someone such as Jenner to be looked down upon.
However, in many cases, it seems the people who are not conservative tend to be less accepting.
We believe everyone should respect and accept other’s opinions, even when we do not necessarily agree with them.
We shouldn’t judge someone because they don’t agree with us.
There are so many controversial issues going on in our nation currently, and if we do not learn to respect other people, then we will never make any progress moving forward.
As a country, there is already division between us because of controversial issues.
Instead of allowing these issues to divide us further, we should instead focus on agreeing to disagree and stand together, especially within the Auburn Family.
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