A friend of mine recently confronted my with something on her mind.  In particular, she did not understand how I could be friends with certain types of people.

My friend and I have known each other for years.  She is a wonderful gal.  She is warm, intelligent and very supportive.  Her approaching me about who I associate with is not the first time.  She has spoken to me several times about this topic.  I always listen to her concerns, but do not change my behavior.  It makes her very frustrated.

Unlike her, I do not feel the need to have every person I associate with share my values.  It would be nice, but it is not going to happen.  People know who I am.  They know what I value in life.  By remaining friends with people who disagree with my ideas, does not mean I do not have strong beliefs.

There are times when I see a Facebook posting by a friend of mine that I don’t agree with.  I do not comment.  I remain silent.  It is hard to do sometimes, especially when I feel the comment is mean-spirited.  I do however post my own ideas on my Facebook page.  This allows me to express myself and lets people know who I am.  I do not feel threatened by allowing other people to do the same.

My friend feels by remaining in contact with Facebook friends who do not share my values, I am saying I agree with them.  I can tell she is worried other people may influence my thinking.  She does not need to worry.  I know who I am and what I stand for.

At one point my girlfriend asked me a question.

“What is a nice girl like you doing associating yourself with people like that?”

I answered her.

“Practicing tolerance.  Demonstrating to my children how to treat people who are different from me.  Expressing the love I know God would want me to. And most of all, remembering we are all in this life together.”

 That is it.  That is what I  a nice girl like me is doing.  I can only hope others will do the same.