"Different" Does Not Automatically Mean "Bad"

I love classically designed wood furniture. The richly warm tones found in many oak and maple pieces make me feel more at ease than the sleekly aloof character of black lacquered furniture, and I prefer my gracefully curving sleigh bed to the stark designs of modern platform beds.

Those furniture preferences are reflections of my style preferences: brown over black; comfort over sophistication. Yet I admire others whose style is the opposite of mine. I can appreciate the beauty in the furnishings of a starkly angular, modernly designed home, and I can admire the sophisticated lady who always looks as though she had just stepped off the stage of a photo shoot for a fashion magazine.

How silly would it be to dislike someone for not sharing my exact taste in furniture, clothing, or design? Yet all too often we find nothing absurd in disliking a person simply for being different from us: a different race, a different religion, a different outlook on life. Before we decide we don't like someone, we need to make certain that we are not basing our dislike on superficial circumstances. (I am not saying that all beliefs are correct. I am only saying that we should not dislike people merely because they are different from us.)