Reflection, but not the one in the water

In class, many good and thought provoking points were brought up. A few of which swayed me to see the argument from a different point of view or in a way that I didn't even know existed. I've always thought that a heated debate, well not exactly heated but more of a passionate debate, always bought out the best point in an article or rhetorical piece and brought more sense to the article for all who were involved. I feel though that the discussion in class really didn't go that exact direction.
The way I feel our discussion went was beyond the piece itself into a different plane to talk not about the piece, but about the topic it was covering. At times it seemed that we went into areas that the piece never even mentioned or discussed, not that it's a bad thing though. This way I felt better point and a more lively discussion was brought out of the topic and the people who were involved in it.