(no subject)

My accomplishment for today:

Debated my biggest hot-button emotional-response issue with someone whose views were almost diametrically opposite to mine, and kept it very civil and respectful.

I'm feeling pretty awesome about that. \o/

It made me think, too. Religion was such a big part of the conversation that I was inevitably asked about my beliefs; I gave my usual "Well, I'm an agnostic Unitarian Universalist..." spiel which basically boils down to "I don't have any", but upon reflection, I've realized that that's not entirely accurate.

I believe in humanity.

That's my religion. I believe in humanity the way some people believe in God. I believe there's something essential and decent in human beings, something that won't always come out when pressed but sometimes will, and it's not something I can always see and not something you can touch or prove or measure, and sometimes it's hard to hold on to that faith when the whole world seems like it's trying to prove me wrong, but at the end of the day I believe, down to the bottom of my soul, that there's something inside people that's worth fighting for, worth loving for, worth building for, worth searching for. Something that leads us to reach out to one another and say "You're suffering, I can see your pain... what can I do to help?" and that in the end, that's what will win out. Not our destruction, not our hate; I believe in our love.

I should debate more often. It always seems to bring good things.