Agree: I have a group of college friends that I have kept in touch with since graduation. We generally keep in contact via email and the occasional phone call but we always work hard to see each other when we are in their area. We really are a strange brew of guys held together by certain other relationships within the group. We have reached a stage that some of the people that served as the intitial catalysts for the group have moved to the foreground.

What has emerged is relationships or one in particular that I would never have had generated on my own. The amazing thing is that I really enjoy the company and conversation with Nate. He thinks differently than me and what can be scary generally turns into something amazing.

Nate asked a question of me over a year ago and still to this day I think about it often. He asked "How often are you around people or read books that don't agree with your way of thinking?". I wasn't sure to answer but if he asked me now I'd be able to give and answer. My answer would be "more than I used to be but not as many as I'd like to be?"

I mean how many "christians" have read books on/about Charles Darwin, evolution or non-creationist theories on the existence of life? How many liberals sit down to the 700 club with an open mind? Fact is we don't do that. Maybe it's too hard, too much strain on our phyche, too hard to be willing to flex and adjust.

But what it's done is segmented our society and culture into these sects that don't agree and only listen to people that quote their same mantra. We don't this to the point that we can't even find common ground. What's more is that we do this out of what I believe is good intentions. We want to know truth and to believe in what is right and believing in what is right means everyone else is wrong.