Keep your mind open to change.

This might surprise you. It surprised me. After having been on this planet for more than 45 years, I thought I'd pretty much figured out what I believed in.

My oldest friend is my buddy Carlos from Argentina. We met in 11th grade, which means we've known each other for more than 30 years. And from the beginning, he and I argued, debated, and discussed political philosophy.

Neither one of us ever thought the other would modify his position. And while each of us was convinced the other was wrong, we both knew that our fundamental beliefs were well-considered.

Carlos didn't change my mind. He couldn't have. But a lot of stuff happened during the presidential election of 2008 that did.

I'm not going to go into details because the point here isn't specifically what I believe, but more importantly, that the things I believe--and believed so strongly--changed.

It was hard, but I called Carlos back in November and told him about my "conversion." He was a gentleman about it, and didn't give me too hard of a time.

And that's what a real friend does. But I'll get into that in another section.