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Jackson Cornelius

Mrs. Crowell

Adv. Comp

23 August, 2017

Challenging Beliefs

Peanut is one of my good friends. We play golf together, went to the same school, and

occasionally hang out on the weekends. Peanut's real name is Reed Helman. We have known

each other since my freshman year. Reed got the name Peanut from all the Prince and ACAD

guys who made fun of his haircut during the matches. Peanut always kind of stuck after that.

Peanut was a good guy and I could always count on him to be there for me. However, as good of

friends as we are, my freshman year we did not really get along all that well. We had complete

opposite political viewpoints. I prefer a more conservative side to economics and I am a big

proponent of the free market, while Reed supported Bernie Sanders and subscribed to the

Democratic Socialism theory. Peanut and I argued and argued but we could not grasp each

others viewpoints. We both prided ourselves on being very tolerant people. We played in golf

matches almost every day, so we learned how to handle each other-until one day we duked it out

on the tee box of hole number two while waiting for other groups to finish. After this we were a

lot better friends, we respected each other on a whole new level, and could finally start

understanding why the other had the views he did.

Growing up in Georgia, I had a lot of Republican influence in my family and my friends,

but my parents always told me I had a choice. I had liberal family members who I listened to. I

also had my grandpa and cousins on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. My mom and
dad always taught me no matter what views I have, I must always try and understand people and

their views, even though it can be hard. My dad used to say, You cant judge anyone son. You

have no clue what they have been through. I always took that to heart, but even remembering

such advice from my father, one of the people I respect most in this world, it was hard not to

immediately judge people by their beliefs. I have always tried to see both sides of the parties on

each issue. I did not know Reeds background or what kind of family he came from, I assumed

they were great people. Reed liked Bernie Sanders, and I believe he voted for Hilary, which I

understood. Every time I asked him why he gave good answers. Reed always said, The poor in

this country suffer and Minimum wage needs to be increased. My whole freshman year I

decided that we might as well not talk about it. We would be better of putting it to the side and

just being friends.

My freshman year passed and then came the end of my sophomore year. By then Reed

and I had become very good friends. We hung out sometimes and played a lot of golf together.

One day we were playing a match at Lakeview Academy and the course was backed up. We

were having to wait about thirty minutes on the tee box when a conversation arose. I can barely

remember how it started something about him always having As throughout high school and

studying every night. He told me about how he did it all to be the top of his class so that one day

he could become a doctor. I then casually brought up the argument, After all the time, sweat,

and money you put into getting good grades and going to UGA, why would you give that hard-

earned money to someone else? Someone who most likely slacked off and never went to class or

even tried. He was a little confused so at first and we went back and forth about the idea of

democratic socialism. He told me, Fifty small countries in South America, Europe, and Asia

had all given this theory a try and it was working. I had not heard of this statistic so I thought
about it. I asked him questions about how it worked so I could get a better hold on the situation

and we finally agreed. It is hard to compare those small countries with populations of less than

ten million to a country such as the United States that has a population of about 330 million. We

were stuck at fork in the road. He was a strong believer in that socialism could work; however, I

was very skeptical and believed it could be a disaster. We continued to question each others

beliefs and try to see it from one anothers perspective. After much arguing and discussing the

issue, we finally came up with a conclusion. We both understood that there was a problem with

the poor in our country and they needed help. We each had different viewpoints on how to

address the situation; however, we both understood that there were many ways to approach it.

We realized in that conversation that our different political ideas were indeed very different but

they were both working towards the same goal.

Reed and I spent months avoiding talking about politics but that day changed our entire

friendship. We had a real conversation in which we finally understood each other. It is hard to

not judge people for beliefs that contradict with your own. In the United States, most of the

country is divided among social and political beliefs and it is important that we somehow can

come to an agreement and begin to understand and love one another. I used to not even listen to

peoples opinions that opposed mine, but after hanging out with Reed I now know that I should

always respect people and their words.

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