A day of Jewish unity and pride

This Sunday is Lag Ba'omer. It is a festive day of Jewish unity and pride. We celebrate it with Kabalistic study, as well as outings, bonfires, BBQ's, parades, live music and other joyous methods.
The background story of this holiday recounts a terrible epidemic that raged in the land of Israel amongst the students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva (50-135 CE), resulting in the untimely passing of 24,000 people. Finally on Lag B'omer the plague ended.
In describing the devastation of this plague, and the time period leading up to the death of these thousands of scholars, the Talmud tells us “they did not act respectfully towards each other.”
As committed disciples of Rabbi Akiva they were each convinced that their understanding and approach to his teachings was the correct one. With their strong opinions, they lacked civility amongst each other, and left no possible room for the other.
The lesson this story teaches us is clear, and very necessary. We need to realize that those who view things differently than us are not necessarily evil, immoral or unintelligent. They may simply have a different perspective or understanding.
Today more than ever, we must be respectful, and indeed love, those with whom we even have profound disagreements. This becomes even more significant when we remember that it was none-other than Rabbi Akiva himself who taught us that  “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great principle of the Torah.” 
Oh, and one small additional benefit- you may actually learn a new perspective from them and them from you.