Rudy is a political author and blogger with a website, Concordia (https://concordia.blog/), where he discusses his views on politics, society, and other relevant topics. He was an interesting conversation for me because based on his work, he appeared to approach life with a lot more certainty than I do. In some ways you might look at Rudy "on paper" and think you have a pretty good handle on him. He believes "discipline" is the most important value in life. He thinks society has gotten soft, is too entitled, and is not willing to do hard work. He believes strongly in liberty and freedom, he is skeptical of the media/government and how they are portraying COVID, and he thinks social democracy has some fundamental issues. If you wanted to put him in a box, he appears to be the "standard, right leaning-libertarian" that believes the country needs to stop whining so much.
But that is why we have these conversations. It is useless, if not counterproductive, to make assumptions and try and label someone that simply. The world is complex and nuanced; and people are complex and nuanced. I wanted to get a better understanding of Rudy and what underpinned his beliefs. Frankly, I wanted to see if his approach risked being too insensitive or judgmental of other people who don't see the world the way he does. To his credit, he was happy to have this conversation and talk through his underlying logic. We dove into his childhood experience of trying to make the basketball team, his views on weight loss and self discipline, and even his experience with his son who has a learning disability. We used these instances as mini use cases to see how his value system applied in each.
As is almost always the case, there were no definitive answers or conclusions. It is almost impossible to say if Rudy's approach to life is "right" or "good." But maybe that is the point. Maybe the big take away from this discussion should be that we should reserve judgement until it is absolutely necessary. We all have our own values, but it is useless--if not counterproductive, to judge someone else based solely on our personal values and perspectives. Maybe someone is struggling to lose weight because they are too lazy to stick to a diet and they do need more discipline in their life. Or maybe they are struggling because they were abused as a kid and have deep mental trauma that makes it feel nearly impossible to control their eating. Or maybe they have a biological or hormonal issue that requires medical treatment. The point is we don't know for sure and we should act accordingly. We shouldn't be too quick to judge someone else just because it fits into a narrative we hold.
That applies to me as much as anyone else, which is I was I am glad I took the time to get to know more about Rudy. I got to understand that he is a thoughtful, respectful person who wants to make a positive impact on the world. He just has his own, unique view on the best way to do that. My goal wasn't for him to change that view, my goal was just to understand it better. My hope is that my willingness to understand him better, will lead to him trying to understand others better, and then those people trying to understand others better...and on and on and on.