Stuffed Green Peppers
A two-tone blue Studebaker in the driveway meant
he was in town. Visits with Grandpa were great, but dinners when he came to
town were not so great! Stuffed green
peppers, endive salad, green beans and ham, stewed tomatoes and a host of other
kid-unfriendly menu items were usually part of the visit. Fortunately, he also liked mashed potatoes,
hot dogs, ice cream, and candy of any and all kinds.
Recently he thought about Grandpa while eating a
plate of stuffed green peppers. The meal
reminded him of dinners he had struggled through decades earlier, but the time
with Grandpa was most pleasant. He
wondered if his grandpa was somehow responsible for him liking stuffed green
peppers and actually ordering them, when he had the opportunity to order
anything he wanted from a full restaurant menu.
He reasoned that Grandpa probably had little or nothing to do with his
current tastes in food, but nonetheless, he had done a complete 180 of stuffed
green peppers.
As a kid he had eaten them largely to get to the
ice cream, or whatever the dessert was for that evening. Now he ate them because he liked them. By the way, he never made any change on ice
cream; he loved it then and he loves it now.
Even though he could not point to the month, year, or even decade when
his opinion of stuffed green peppers had changed, it had indeed done so. He could not explain the motivations or the
factors behind the change, but there was a change, and he could not remember
consciously making it. Initially, he was
content to just chalk it up to part of the transition from child to adult.
Later, he thought about this a little more, and
began to wonder if there might be some other “stuffed green peppers” in his
life about which his opinion had yet to change.
Were there other things that he believed he did not like, things he said
he wanted nothing to do with, or things he avoided when he had a choice? If there were they may be simple things like
types of music he would not listen to, books he would not read, movies he would
not watch, or foods he would not eat.
They may also be more substantial things like individuals, groups,
professional pursuits, meaningful avocations, or leisure activities that he
avoided.
In addition to the changes that occur between
childhood and adulthood, there are numerous stages and thus numerous
transitions throughout adult life.
Assuming that these transitions might have some impact on individual
likes and dislikes, he thought it might be wise to take a look at his list and
see if there were any “stuffed green peppers” he had not tried recently. It would have been nice to take a year off
and do this in a well-planned, methodical, almost scientific manner, but that
just was not going to happen. So, he
decided to do it on an as-they-come-up basis.
This informal re-examination of his likes and dislikes
was a somewhat interesting process for him.
There have been some small changes in his food tastes. For example, he has found that balsamic vinaigrette
dressing is wonderful, and blue cheese dressing still tastes like a sweaty
sock. His long-held perception of
himself as a person who knows exactly what he likes and knows exactly what he
doesn’t like has softened quite a bit.
He has questioned his political stance, and has promised himself never
again to vote a straight ticket. He has
been working past the limitations of
his established and accepted religious views, and
he no longer considers classical music to be for elevator entertainment only. His new views have brought about some revised
and updated opinions, and his new opinions have opened doors to additional
possibilities and opportunities..
If you are interested in testing your likes and
dislikes to see if old habits are keeping some of them alive, it is not all
that difficult. Start small and work
your way up. Read a book on a subject
about which you believe you have little or no interest. Eat something that you have told yourself
that you don’t like. Purposefully
challenge yourself. Once you’ve tried
some small things, move on to some more meaningful challenges. Rethink some of your social, political and
religious likes and dislikes. Doing so
may well move you outside of your current comfort zone. Who knows, you may well
make some new friends, find a meaningful hobby, locate a new job, or engage in
some activity that will enhance your life and the lives of others.
Take some time to look and see if there are any
stuffed green peppers in your life that deserve a second chance!