What have you changed your mind about?

[jimbogumbo]

i will never, ever change my mind about liver and onions.

True story. Came home from basketball practice really hungry. Mom said my girlfriend had called, was cooking dinner. Mom accepted for me, which seemed totally out of character. Got there to a dinner of liver and onions.

Of course, Mom knew what was on the menu, and that I hated it. I drowned it in ketchup, and gagged it down. Never again

[Stockmann]

I used to think democracy, by allowing freedom of dissent and the peaceful, orderly handover of power to opponents, was inherently more flexible and adaptable, and would therefore eventually prevail over other forms of government (think Darwinian competition). I no longer believe that democracy is more flexible, nimble or adaptable (in terms of actual policies and their implementation at any rate) nor that it will prevail - indeed rolling it back (more) looks pretty plausible in places like Latin America, Eastern Europe and SE Asia in the medium term and its long-term survival doesn't seem to me to be guaranteed anywhere. I also believe the relationship between ostensible politics and economics to be far weaker than I used to (and I was never a Marxist). That is, I still believe that funcional institutions and good leadership tend to lead to prosperity but economic catastrophe, even utter economic ruin do not necessarily lead to change, as Venezuela (also a good example of how democracies can self-destruct), Zimbabwe (Mugabe was overthrown not when he ran the economy into the ground but when he asked his generals to take orders from a woman) and, above all, North Korea, show.

It's almost enough to make me try liver & onions again.

Whoa there big fella.  Let's not take this to extremes.

Brussels Sprouts.  Boiled to death like Mom used to do?  Blech.  Oven roasted with a bit of olive oil & finished with slices of prosciutto?  Great stuff...

I actually like liver & onions. Interestingly, so does Unrelenting Toddler. I've not tried brussels sprouts in a long time because there are lots of things I'd rather eat, but the prosciutto recipe sounds good.

[fishbrains]

I no longer think I can improve my life by changing other people—especially toxic people.

I no longer think that I need to be the greatest-of-all-time at anything in life.

I now think that forgiveness—of self, of others, of life—is probably the most important action we can take for ourselves.

I no longer think I have to be right all the time, and that I can disagree with someone and everything will be fine. For example, RatGuy is completely wrong: Hawthorne is not over-rated. Okay, maybe his novels are, but not his short-stories. Sure, my hands are shaking now, but, see, I'M FINE!

I no longer tolerate potato salad without mustard in it--ever. I now bring mustard packs to family outings with the in-laws. They can scoff and cajole, but I will no longer eat potato salad without mustard in it, and they can't make me.

[mamselle]

Random responses, neither right nor wrong, just personal:

1. Allez le dijonaise! (mayo-moutard, or mayonnaise with mustard) You have good taste. (my opinion; I make all my own tuna, egg, and potato salads with mayo-moutard all the time.)

2. Hawthorne:
   Actually, he made some errors (there is not really a gravestone in King's Chapel for the Scarlet Letter's protagonist or her prototype) but he got some things right (the people in Seven Gables are all drawn from life, including the generational links to the two sides of the 1692 trials, one of whose gravestones is now installed in St. Peter's (Anglican) church chapel (or at least it still was when photographed for a paper in 1992).
   He also overdrew certain ideas and aspects of things, and misunderstood others, but he was in part trying to absolve himself (some believe, I think I agree) from his family connections, one of whose gravestones, in Charter Point, Salem, is for the witchcraft trial judge from whom he was descended.
   But he worked hard to evoke an era that he feared was losing its place in the public memory and imagination, and I think he got that part right.

3. I absolutely agree about forgiveness, and not changing others, and not being the greatest-of-all-time at anything.

Just pondering...

M.

[writingprof]

I changed my mind about the age of the Earth.  I grew up believing in the traditional chronology of the Earth's age that was based on adding up the ages of all the patriarchs in the book of Genesis.  Eventually I realized that the "days" of creation in Genesis were phases of indeterminate time, not solar days.  And anyway one "day" to a God who transcends time is no different from a thousand years--or a million, or a billion.  It's only from our human perspective that it takes a long, long time.

This change in perspective helped me to begin to realize the implications of a God who is eternal (beyond time, not just possessing an infinite amount of it), all-powerful, and all-present.  If God is present at all times and in all places and events, then the distinction we try to make between a supernatural act of creation and the operation of the natural laws that God created as observed by science is artificial.  The processes of geological change and evolution don't push God aside.  They are what we observe of God at work.

God created some amazing creatures in earlier times--dinosaurs (and their descendants, the birds), dire wolves, mastodons, synapsids, glyptodonts, giant sloths, trilobites, and on and on.  He's nothing if not inventive.

This is beautifully put.

[onehappyunicorn]

I am an adventurous eater, life's too short to not try things, but I can't do liver either. I try it every couple of years to see if my tastes have changed but it still tastes like licking something rusty to me no matter how I try it.
Mercy has also become more important that justice to me as I grow older.
My taste in music has changed as well, I listen to far more diverse stuff that I think 20 year-old-me would have strongly disliked. I'm not concerned as much anymore about being in one "camp" or another.
I also used to think it was important to be right about things, now I am more concerned about where my time and energy can be better applied.

[apl68]

I changed my mind about the age of the Earth.  I grew up believing in the traditional chronology of the Earth's age that was based on adding up the ages of all the patriarchs in the book of Genesis.  Eventually I realized that the "days" of creation in Genesis were phases of indeterminate time, not solar days.  And anyway one "day" to a God who transcends time is no different from a thousand years--or a million, or a billion.  It's only from our human perspective that it takes a long, long time.

This change in perspective helped me to begin to realize the implications of a God who is eternal (beyond time, not just possessing an infinite amount of it), all-powerful, and all-present.  If God is present at all times and in all places and events, then the distinction we try to make between a supernatural act of creation and the operation of the natural laws that God created as observed by science is artificial.  The processes of geological change and evolution don't push God aside.  They are what we observe of God at work.

God created some amazing creatures in earlier times--dinosaurs (and their descendants, the birds), dire wolves, mastodons, synapsids, glyptodonts, giant sloths, trilobites, and on and on.  He's nothing if not inventive.

This is beautifully put.

Thanks, writingprof.

[Stockmann]

I no longer think I can improve my life by changing other people—especially toxic people.

I no longer think that I need to be the greatest-of-all-time at anything in life.

+1.
Also, potatoes and mustard definitely go well together.

I am an adventurous eater, life's too short to not try things, but I can't do liver either. I try it every couple of years to see if my tastes have changed but it still tastes like licking something rusty to me no matter how I try it...

My wife agrees with y'all about liver - it's something I buy and cook exclusively for Unrelenting Toddler and myself.

[apl68]

Since we're on the subject--I changed my mind years ago with regard to fried chicken livers.  I've found that they're actually quite nice as an occasional treat.  Gizzards too.  I've never yet tried beef liver, though.