Down with Sprouts!

We are each of us a member of a loyal opposition.

Of course, with over 7 billion individuals scattered into 195 countries, how could we be otherwise? And speaking of languages, more than 6,000 are spoken in the world today. A couple hundred of those are reported to have fewer than 1000 speakers, which really interests me, but I’ll save that topic for some other time.

I can hear it now: “I don’t care about other languages”.  Indeed.

Maybe, then, Brussels sprouts. I loathe Brussels sprouts. I don’t care if they are packed with vitamins C and K. Loathe, loathe, loathe. And yet friends that I respect, and yes love, love Brussels sprouts.

I’m sorry for their flaw, but I will never cross over to their side. But, here’s the catch—I am not going to war over the sprouts. I am not unfriending sprout-lovers, not bad-mouthing them, not judging them.

Oops. By the way, when someone starts up with I’m not judging—well, I would say “Run”, but honestly, it’s too late.

Nor do I expect to convert someone to a Brussels-sprout-free life. Certainly not by words coming from my mouth as this issue is decidedly a matter of taste in your own mouth.

Maybe because I threw up sprouts when an infant—an out-of-the-mouths-of sort of thing—that I am irrevocably anti-sprouts. I don’t know.

Truth is, we do a lot of deciding for ourselves.

And in this complex world, I find that whatever opinion I might hold—and sometimes conclusion—is a gumbo of variables like culture and family and education and study and instinct coming together. And time.

Really, I can only think of one instance when someone’s position on a serious topic changed my way of thinking in short order. A 9^th grader in a public speaking class I was teaching in the late 90s gave a persuasive speech supporting the wearing of seatbelts. Her case was so compelling that starting that afternoon I never drove again without wearing one.

So my thinking is that most of us rarely reverse ourselves and that most of us come to conclusions and opinions, not leap to them. The other side believes what it believes and will hold on in the very same way I hold on to my positions.

Which is what I try to remember when I hear or read the opinions of others that I disagree with—even if I find them odious.

No doubt, some will disagree with me on that note. Indeed.