How to confront someone who is passionate about a different cause and still maintain their friendship and respect.

L.A. writes:
I don’t usually curse much but I am so Fucking tired of people comparing the outrage being greater for the murder of Cecil the lion VS. the horrific Abortion clinic situation. Each one is deplorable!!! But let’s not judge one for having a passion for a certain Cause!!!! We can all work together to make a difference in this world!

Hello L.A. I feel your way too every day! Everyone is passionate for a cause whether it is protecting wildlife, raising awareness of the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses, rescuing lost puppies, ending sex trafficking, ending racism, LGBTQ+, putting Obama into office for a 3rd term or wage equality and many more. Every cause is important and is making the world a better place and every cause needs volunteers and advocates to bring about change.

But right now YOU are the one who’s dedicating YOUR time, your energy and potentially YOUR money as well. So YOU have a say in how you are going to spend YOUR time. And assuming that you want to maintain a good friendship, telling them to MYOB isn’t going to help. That’s why I’m going to show you a hack to say MYOB to your friend with another cause and still have them admire you for your zeal and passion.

1. Respect them for standing up for a cause and the world is becoming a better place because of people like you. (It’s better than not standing up for anything at all). Volunteers are never thanked enough, recognizing them for their works builds trust and respect.
2. Tell them there are many worth causes in the world (list a bunch)
3. Tell them you FEEL passionate toward raising awareness toward anti-poaching and are committing to it for this season.
4. Tell them to learn to respect differences.
5. (Optional) You recognize their cause is important and will consider partaking in their cause when the time comes.

With this approach you have a much better chance to tell someone to MYOB and still respect differences. It has worked well for me and many people (there are a few hardcore activists who do not know how to respect difference and this is where you can give them some space to avoid future drama). It is important to maintain a good relationship especially with someone who is active in the community or online because your passion may change months or years down the road and you may be working with someone you had this conversation with.

Happy conversations

Eddie Y

Originally published at justice4cecil.weebly.com.