Halfway Openminded (2+3 is not 2 and 3)

(Contributed by Mitch Greene)

I used to work at a huge banquet hall where there were extremely curious, experimental chefs. I loved everyone I worked with there so much, and we were all remarkably close. We called one of the chefs Jimbo. He was silly, and he loved a challenge, and if you offered one, he’d always take it on. However, the task that day was a little bit harder than others. His apprentice junior chef challenged him to make pineapple curry with only the ingredients he had on hand. Sounds nasty, doesn’t it?

Another coworker I had, Chrissy, was one of those people whose pride made them funny to mess with. She was extremely serious and very straight forward. When Jimbo finished his dish, he wanted everyone to try it, and everyone was eager… except for Chrissy. When he asked her to taste it, she said she wouldn’t like it. She told us that she does not like curry or pineapple, so she wouldn’t try it. She said, “If I liked the ingredients, I’d try it. I do have an open mind.”

I worked with Jimbo for nearly five years, and his response stuck with me more than anything else he said during my time with him. Without skipping a beat Jimbo said, “Two plus three does not equal 2 and 3. The ingredients of my dish are not my dish, and your mind is only halfway open.” She blew off the response and went back to work. But for me, the message stuck.

Jimbo is not much of a philosopher, but what he had said that day was very deep. Rejecting the thought of something because we make an assumption about it is not how we learn. Chrissy may not have liked the ingredients, but maybe they would have been better combined. Perhaps she really missed out on something she might have really liked.

After processing all of this, I felt that I needed to be more openminded. It’s easy to have an open mind to something you’re confident about. That’s why it’s only halfway open. We need to kick the door to our minds wide open, accept the good with the bad and be ready to learn.

Also, I regret to inform you that the curry was really bad. Everybody told Chrissy it was amazing though.