I've been thinking lately...

I belong to the greatest church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the best thing in my life. And that says a lot- I have a pretty amazing husband and a beautiful child with a second on the way. But guess what, I wouldn't have ANY of that without the Church.
It is a beautiful thing. We are taught the importance of family, honesty, love, compassion, service. We have an incredible humanitarian program that shows exactly what my church teaches. We have strong beliefs and values. And we respect other peoples rights to having different beliefs.
Now, why can't we have that too? Why can't we stand up for our beliefs and values without being told we are wrong and narrow minded? Why can't people be as open- minded as we (at least try to) strive to be? Don't get me wrong- I am not perfect, and besides that I don't know a single member of my Church that is perfect. But we try. We try to be respectful of opinions. We try to express our beliefs and values without demeaning others.  I just want to have beliefs and values without being told that I am narrow minded, disrespectful and ruining people's lifes. Is that really too much to ask?
It would be a beautiful thing. My dream is that when Mikey is an adult, people act the way they expect everyone else to be. Being open-minded doesn't mean being liberal. It means being willing to consider both sides of the argument. And even more, being close-minded is not synonymous with conservative.
Anyways, it is just something I've been thinking about...