Observations: Pickles, Group Identity, and Politics
“I’ll have an all-American cheeseburger with no pickles or mustard, please.” –Me, circa 2003.
“You want that? I thought you hated pickles?” –My friend to me, circa 2018.
You know how some people will get cynical and say, “People never change.”?
Umm… I change.
I change a lot.
I’ve thought I was straight, I thought I was bisexual for a while, and now I know I’m gay.
I’ve been registered to vote at different times as Republican, unaffiliated, and Democrat.
I used to suffer every single morning, and now I have coffee.
These days, I occasionally crave a pickle spear; before, I absolutely loathed them.
It’s strange to think how many different versions of myself I’ve lived. But, I have an appreciation for each one because they all brought me to my present. And my present is pretty great.
I recently had a conversation with a date in which my political past came up. I knew the person I was with espoused opinions associated with an end of the “spectrum” quite the opposite of my past, but I told him I’d been there, nonetheless. (Anyone in a relationship with me needs to know my past and present self, right?) I don’t actually know this for sure, but it really did seem to be difficult for him to move beyond my past being anathema to his (and my) current political views.
My notice of that particular interaction is not an isolated observation. I have met many people who tend to struggle to connect with people outside their perceived social groups. Some can barely even interact if the subject of conversation does not stay within their group’s boundaries.
I know diversity of opinion has been a good thing for me, as an individual, to arrive at one of the better places I’ve been in my life, as far as success and happiness are concerned.
I think the same is true for all of us.
Pickle-lovers and haters ought to appreciate one another’s thoughts. Having the broadest range of perspective, at least in my opinion, provides the clearest view of how things really ought to be.