"When permitted to listen to alternative opinions and
engage in substantive debate, people have been known to
change their minds. It can happen. For example, Hugo
Black, in his youth, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan; he
later became a Supreme Court justice and was one of the
leaders in the historic Supreme Court decisions, based partly
on the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that affirmed
the civil rights of all Americans. It was said that when he
was a young man he dressed up in white robes and scared
black folks; when he got older, he dressed up in black robes
and scared white folks."

~ From: The Demon-Haunted World
by Astronomer & Author Carl Sagan, 1934 -1996 ~

Don't give in to despair when you see the condition
of the world; instead, look back on the way we have
come, and you may see that although we do indeed
often take three steps forward and two steps back ~
or sometimes even two steps forward and three
back ~ we are on a journey, and, I believe, moving
in the right direction.