Teachable Moments?

I am not sure why people enter my life when they do. I sometimes (or most of the time) believe these are God's teachable or 'shake you up' moments. Monday on the plane a man of about 32 sat next to me. The first thing he said was, "I am so glad you aren't as big as the last person I sat next to." During our conversation he shared his story. He is married to the love of his life after dating another woman for 12 years. He was in Louisville for the NRA convention and he owns a business in Washington DC. The business makes guns. Now, my dad was a hunter, my brothers were (and one still is) hunters. If we still hunted for food the way the native americans did [and didn't mass produce and mass destroy animals] I probably wouldn't have as much issue with it. But hunting for sport_that never has sat well with me and now I abhor it. And mounting the heads (the trophies) is just plain gross. GROSS... Now that is the word of a scholar wouldn't you say? Well, this man made semi-automatic weapons and machine guns. Obviously not for hunting animals, but for hunting people. Machines made for one purpose; to kill. He talked about how theirs were the only ones with minimal recoil so there is more accuracy. I just sat there. Not really saying anything that I was thinking... such as, "What are you thinking?" "I hate guns." "What happened to love thy enemies" "Thou shall not kill"? Now, I grew up with guns in the house, I told him. But I don't own one, nor do I want to own one. I have come to realize most people don't want to talk politics or religion or philosophies.....they just want to talk. So, I sat....and listened. At one point in the conversation he asked about my kids and where would they probably live. When I said my daughter will probably end up in a hut in a third world country he said, "Oh, maybe she'll outgrow that." My only comment, "I hope not."............ I was cordial....I think. At least when we deplaned he said, "I wish I had more people like you sit next to me." "I really enjoyed chatting with you." And good luck to your daughter and your son! OK, I survived. Then on my way out of the hospital [my customer site] another man (about 32) started talking to me about the election, universal health care, etc. I won't go into the detail, but when I said something to the affect of "I don't think we're ready for universal healthcare. But we need to figure out a solution. And mentioned my daughter's BF said in his country the rich still get better care (his country has universal healthcare) because they can afford to pay more (cash and gifts)....his comment was, "That's why we need to strive to be rich" and "poor people are there because they want to be!".....WHAT THE HECK GOD....am I suppose to comment to these people? Walk away? Say, "Peace, Love and Joy man?" All I said was, "I guess if I had to choose between being rich and giving to the poor or poor and taking from the rich....I wouldn't pick the later." Now, wasn't that profound......... aggggghhh.... .. Teachable (whether I learn) moments...