I recently had a debate with someone that said something to
me that has been said before, “You just don’t get it because you don’t have an
open mind” and that, “You are only questioning this because you don’t have an
open mind.” What I didn’t get doesn’t matter at this point. My concern is about
the “open mind” bit. Apparently, being unwilling to change my worldview because
someone else said I was wrong means I have a closed mind. Apparently,
questioning something in opposition to your beliefs is a sign of a closed mind.
I submit, if you were to truly have an open mind as some
would like you to have, then you would follow anything anyone says and would
not be capable of self-expression or able to contribute anything to society.
I will admit, I am pretty staunchly grounded in my beliefs.
It takes a lot of hard work to make me change them. However, there is a
difference between a closed mind and a guarded mind. I don’t believe what I
believe because my mommy and daddy told me so. I grew up wanting to know why. I
still want to know why. Why does this happen? How does this work? I believe
understanding the why and how make for a firmer foundation than “X” said so.
