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The point, zen_tom, is not to base one's beliefs solely on the limited experience of any one human being, but to try and understand other's viewpoint in order to broaden one's horizons. That's the point of literature as well, to help us to think differently. Gadamer called this the fusion of horizons; that by understanding, even to a limited extent, a foreign viewpoint, our own viewpoint is made larger by the attempt.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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