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How to Agree to Disagree and Still Get Along

Rules for staying friends while standing your ground

Frank McKinley
2 min readNov 10, 2020
Photo by Massimo Sartirana via Unsplash

Election seasons always ignite people’s passions on social media (and sometimes in public).

It’s easy to post from your bedroom where no one can punch you in the face. But when you have a disagreement in public, you act differently.

If you’ve known anyone well for more than a week or two, you’ll find something to disagree about. Someone said if two people agree about absolutely everything, one of them is not needed. When we disagree with someone we like, we feel tension. We want the relationship to continue, but we know it won’t be the same as it was before.

So how can we agree to disagree without being disrespectful, weird, or just plain rude?

First, let’s look at what agreeing to disagree really means. It means you tolerate but don’t accept the other person’s point of view. Tolerating means you allow something to happen without interfering. Accepting means you treat something as truth.

My brother and I don’t think the same politically. Yet, we still talk. We still celebrate holidays together. We just…

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Frank McKinley
Frank McKinley

Written by Frank McKinley

I like to figure things out and share what I find. My favorite topics are faith, communication, business, and personal growth. https://skl.sh/2Xp1p8d

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