Reflect on a time when either you or somebody else acted in a way that conflicted with your values. Describe how the situation unfolded, how it affected you emotionally, and whether any changes or decisions were made as a result. What insights did you gain from this experience?
I have a friend who is a trump supporter. It is against my values to support such a man because of his values and the way he carries out business. He is corrupt and that is simply something I believe that will never change. We started discussing this topic and his point was that he was good for the economy. I pulled up sources of how he put the economy in the garbage and my friend went quiet. Mind you, my friend is Cuban. I told him that trump doesn’t even like him and wants him to go back to his country. He started to argue with me and tried to say that trump reunited kids with their families or something. I had never heard of something like that, so I looked it up. There wasn’t a single source that said what my friend was falsely stating. This made me feel very angry that, not only, does he support someone who is such an awful man, he is also spreading misinformation. After I brought up all my points and showed him that trump never helped a single Cuban, he said we should stop the discussion (that he called an argument) before it “ruined our friendship.” I scoffed and felt mad that my friend could support someone who has 1. disrespected women constantly, 2. hypocritical, 3. racist, 4. homophobic, and 5. sexist. I constantly have to ignore the fact that he is a trump supporter because he is one of my closest friends and I don’t want politics to get in the way of that. I did think it was really funny how he ended the conversation only after he was proved wrong and suddenly felt stupid. He called the discussion an argument and said it would ruin our friendship. It wasn’t an argument, it was just a political discussion. And it wouldn’t have ended our friendship unless he said something really messed up or he ended it because of our differing political views. Overall, the encounter made me go on a rollercoaster of emotions. I was angry, sad, amused, and also felt empowered. The insight I gained was that people can have different perspectives and opinions and it doesn’t mean they can’t be friends.
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MissAmy
May 28, 2024
You were brave to continue to have the discussion. (Did you know that discusíon in Spanish is mean argument?) It is great that you looked up the facts and tried to find elements of his point of view and to educate yourself to feel that empowerment.
I am glad that you are still friends. That isn’t always the case. Maybe he will start to think about his stance on the subject because you were able to show him a couple of examples that were different than his comments. It is frustrating that it is so hard to have these conversations now without personal feelings getting in the way. Keep up your openness to educating yourself and stick to your values.