I’ve discovered that I’m not a great researcher.
That is, maybe not even that I’m a bad researcher, but I’m a lazy one. In general, I usually prefer to just go with the flow than fully research something out. It’s an odd mix because I also tend to be fairly opinionated. However, I’m usually pretty honest with others and telling them when I don’t have a strong case due to not having done the proper research.
On both the COVID crisis and the racial injustice, as conversations come up, I’ve done a lot of learning, but what I consistently see is people that both think they have all the facts and are willing to die on every hill that they “stand for.”
Yet it seems information is changing every day, so how can you hold such a strong opinion on something that even the experts are changing their minds about consistently.
There is a time to die on a hill. When you know something is the truth beyond a shadow of a doubt, and that it’s extremely important for all people to know and believe that truth. When it falls outside that, I think we need to have much more grace in the conversations that we have with others. Because who knows who may end up being right in the long run.
Regardless of the research, be careful about which hills you’re willing to die on. They may not all be worth it.