My Spring!

And if I can't find the colours of spring outside... I bring them in

Of being "Open Minded"!

A very good friend of mine -actually one of the very few people in my whole life that I can talk freely to knowing that I will never get judged or misunderstood- mentioned that "open minded" has become abused lately and turned to be very vague as it is "sticked" to all kinds of people and actions without really having a solid base upon which it is applied. She also questioned: "What is open-mindedness? Which adjectives fall under its definition? and then... how are they implemented. ..? Or is it just one of those linguistic fashions?" This made me think for a while and then I reached the conclusion that, like any adjective, "open minded" differs according to who says it and who she/he gives it to. So for example such an adjective can be given to a man who does not mind sharing the house work with his wife, a mother who accepts that her daughter goes out with group of friends from both sexes and stays out late, to a man who does not mind that his wife or girlfriend dresses in an exotic way, and it can reach the extreme of giving it to people who do not believe in God or any religion. And of course we have to put in mind the three things that govern our society and become the base of judgement which are religion, traditions and social pressure. Accordingly, a person who breaks some of these rules can be easily called open minded by another person. And again it all depends on who gives the title and to whom. So I think it is like any other adjective, very subjective, you cannot find a single definition or even a group of things that if present in a certain person this person deserves the title, it's like most of the adjectives we use. What is beautiful? What is good life? Who is a happy person? And the list can go for as long as we want. And although some adjectives can be measured like intelligence for example, still the means of measurement differ according to who measures and why is he measuring? I think if you want to minimize your annoyment, whenever you hear this adjective (or any other) being given to someone, just ask the giver of the adjective two questions: 1- What do you mean by open minded? 2- Why do you think X is open minded? It will help you understand the one who gave the adjective, which is really more important than understanding the one who was given it. And believe me you will be shocked how people use words to describe things.