You’ll Fight Like Hell For Your Strong Beliefs

Patrick Johnson
Sep 2, 2018 · 5 min read

Since November 2016 politics has taken on a brand new aura in American society. It touches every aspect of our lives, personal, professional, or familial. We can’t avoid it as what is being said in Washington nowadays either confirms or confronts our core American beliefs. Forcing millions of Americans off the sidelines and into the fray.

People are fighting like hell for what they believe in, and many times civility be damned. I believe there is a better way, I believe that we can fight for our core beliefs without disparaging or marginalizing someone else’s views.

If the Founders could do it in 1789 while writing the Constitution, we can do now in the modern age.

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Beliefs

In one of the final songs in Lin-Manual Miranda’s “Hamilton” he refers to America as a great unfinished symphony. That phrase strikes a chord in my heart and speaks to the primary message of this article… our beliefs.

Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, Union or Non-Union, Social Welfare vs Pure Capitalism we all possess different sets of beliefs, all of us are individual notes in the symphony that is America. It’s essential that we all feel comfortable enough to share our beliefs because it keeps the symphony playing, keeps it moving forward

We crafted our Constitution to allow for Amendments, we used the First one to guarantee ourselves the right of Free Speech so we could always discuss our individual beliefs. That is the founding principle of our entire nation.

With those beliefs comes a sliding scale of importance, some beliefs will be ones you believe but won’t get you off of the couch. Other beliefs will motivate you to drive to the Capitol and wait 3 hours to give 3 minutes of public testimony. It is the latter that we must focus on.

It’s those beliefs that will create awkward silences at Thanksgiving dinner, get us into fights with our Uncles, strains our friendships, and motivates us to get into an hour-long comment war on Facebook. Those are the beliefs that are most dangerous and yet the most worthwhile.

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Civility

Civility and decorum, saying them out loud today they feel weird on your tongue as if you’re uttering words from a foreign language for the very first time. They have all but disappeared from our modern American vocabulary.

Once upon a time in our country, we could talk to one another, present opposing views, and leave the conversation still as friends. Why? Because we had shared experiences and mutual respect for one another.

This allowed us to sit and actively listen to one another as we shared our views. We may have still ended the conversation with the same views we entered with, but we would leave understanding one another better.

We must do better to bridge that gap. We must foster a space where we can hear one another. How?

  • Set the Boundaries — Tell the person your talking with what this conversation is about, what is or isn’t appropriate, and when the conversation strays enforce it bringing it back within bounds. When a person knows where the boundaries are, human nature inherently puts them at ease because they know what the rules are.
  • Be Respectful— thank people for sharing their views, don’t interrupt them as they do
  • Don’t Change Their Views — It’s not your job to change their views, it’s your job to listen and then share your views.

If you can foster this space, it changes the tone of everything that comes next. Civility is what allows your beliefs to transform from statements to actions. It gives you a foundation of respect where your ideas and thoughts can be heard by people of all viewpoints.

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Fight Like Hell

You know what you believe in, you know people will respect you, now it’s time to fight like hell for them.

When you are motivated to make the world a better place when that fire is lit underneath your ass, that makes you a force to be reckoned with. Take that motivation and channel it forward.

Engage in the conversations with the people you need to, apply the rules of civility to make sure you are heard, take consistent action to further your goals.

Contrary to popular belief, fighting like hell for what you believe in doesn’t have to be violent, it has to be tenacious. A non-stop onslaught of forward momentum, slowly but surely eroding the resistance to your end goal.

Referencing the play “Hamilton” again, there is a line early on in the play that says

“Raise a glass to the four of us, tomorrow there’ll be more of us”

I love that line because it shows how a small committed group of people can change the world. The Revolution was started by a few American colonists who wanted to overthrow the gigantic British Empire. It was a herculean task, how did they accomplish it? With unyielding pressure and resiliency. With a steadfast belief in something bigger and better than the status quo.

Fighting like hell for a belief like that will slowly win over more and more people. It will create progress and change in the world. It’s worth fighting for!

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Years Not Weeks

Bringing it all home you must learn your beliefs and identify which ones matter most. You must become comfortable with civility and decorum amongst both your peers and more importantly those of differing views. Lastly, you must tenaciously fight for the progress you want to see in the world.

All three aspects can be accomplished, and all three may be integral to every significant piece of progressive change America has ever seen. From establishing us as a country, to ending slavery, to today where we have seen the inexorable expansion and guaranteeing of the rights of the LGBTQ community.

So go forth and fight like hell for the beliefs that matter most to you, engage with people on both sides of the issue, and remember that the battles that matter most are won over the course of years, not weeks.

Patrick Johnson

Written by

creating content with the purpose of educating Connecticut citizens on the issues and challenges facing the state, and other political issues of the day.

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