In Thomas Hardy’s 1891 novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” Hardy uses a character’s encounter with the “large-minded stranger” to demonstrate the relativity of all beliefs and value systems. The stranger was well-traveled, having experienced many different cultures, which developed his, “cosmopolitan mind.” The core of Hardy’s message is that all people should be judged not by their deeds alone but also by their will and intentions.It was this character that I thought of when I wrote #65, because I wanted to attract a broad-minded partner, one who had seen the world from the vantage point of other cultural norms and who had developed a world-view that celebrated differences, valuing other beliefs beyond his own.Everyone just wants validation, love, security, enjoyment and hopes for a better future. It was important to be to spend my life with someone who can relate to everyone in the world by looking past the superficial things that separate us.
