There are seven billion people in the world experiencing things through different perspectives and with different opinions. In our ever-changing world, situations and challenges arise every day. However, especially in the year 2015, progress is also being made. But I believe such progress would not be achieved without open-minded people.

Take the legalization of gay marriage, for example. Even if you don’t agree with gay marriage, you cannot deny that it is progress nonetheless. I believe every human should have the right to marry, and it is not your place to judge anyone, especially if their actions have nothing to do with you. This is why it is important to be an open-minded person. You may not agree, but by being open-minded, you are allowing progress to take place.

Being open-minded is also about understanding the fact that your own ideas and beliefs may not be held by everyone else. Chances are you have found yourself in a situation where your beliefs conflict with someone else’s. In this case, an open-minded person would listen, reflect, and may choose to calmly respond. As a compassionate and competent person, you should be able to listen to other people’s beliefs, even if you don’t completely agree. By being closed-minded, we can hinder much needed growth from taking place.

Remember that you don’t always have to be right—it's it's hard, I know—but it is more important that you try to understand where people are coming from and what makes people think the way they do. If you do this, you can strengthen your own ideas and beliefs. It is also beneficial to see things from different perspectives. In this attempt, we can take several ideas or opinions into account.

On the other hand, I see close-mindedness—AKA stubbornness—as a sort of debilitating tumor in the minds of so many people. If you are set in your own beliefs but don’t even bother to listen to the beliefs of others, you cannot expect other to listen to you. Thus deterring progress or development of any kind. I won’t deny that it can be difficult being open-minded—especially when you find another person’s ideas or beliefs to be absurd. But if we at least try, it is better that remaining stagnant in our quest towards growth.