Take Heart Before Taking Aim

The whole social networking and Internet blogging world is pretty new to me but it did not take much time for me to notice that there is a lot of in fighting amongst those of us who have this one thing in common... Autism. The spectrum is so vast and varied that not everyone dealing with day to day issues has the same experience so it should be expected that all of us won't agree or have the same feelings about life with autism. What is heart breaking is that so much time and effort is used in tearing down those that do not have an identical way of thinking. Now I am all for conversation and helpful speak about what we believe may assist another person through a personal struggle be it physical or emotional. Comparing ones self to another and making snap judgements is unfair and we may very well be in a completely different circumstance than the person we are judging. So I do not understand the combative nature and tone of much of the rhetoric. When people offer up an honest and sincere opinion or feeling or maybe even a little advice we have the choice to take it to heart or ignore it. It's not helpful or uplifting to attack or insult and heaven knows we all need to be lifted up and helped as we go through life trying to do the best we can in our situations. Please let's not burden each other with our harsh words but maybe just sit and listen for a moment. Can we now then hope to be treated with the same dignity?