Postaday for May 3rd. Flip Flop Think of a topic or issue about which you’ve switched your opinion. Why the change?
Over the course of my life I’ve changed my life a lot. I suppose everyone has. “All I know is that I know nothing.” Maybe that’s where wisdom comes from: being wrong a lot. Not that I think I’m right, now. Well, I mean, of course I think I’m right, now. No one thinks “what I think is wrong and I’m not going to bother thinking what’s write.” Then again, I’m pretty sure this opening paragraph is pretty bad… ah, but that’s laziness when I say I’m not going to bother to fix it.
I’ll admit, I’m having trouble thinking of a topic that I’ve switched my opinion on, at least that’s interesting to write about. Interesting to me, I mean. Maybe this one: When I was a kid they showed us some films in grade school to convince us to never drink or do drugs. And they worked! I was a teetotaler until I was 29. In my 20s I convinced myself that the problem wasn’t the alcohol itself, but the culture, the way youth seemed to almost worship inebriation. Young wannabe priest communing with Bacchus. Then one day I realized I was fetishizing NOT drinking, so I decided, meh, bottom’s up. Got drunk, for the first time, with three scantily clad young ladies. Body shots were involved. True story. Now I’m a regular alcohol aficionado.
But I draw the line there. (Also, I don’t drink with scantily clad females anymore). No drugs. Weed is legal in this state, but my wife works for the federal government, so for her it’s still off limits. I have no problem with also abstaining. For her sake. (Not sure what I can tell you about the future though, when she retires.)
Can’t think of anything interesting, though, in the ol’ flip-flop department. And you know what? It’s stalling me, keeping me from writing about something else. I just spent five minutes browsing Reddit, looking for inspiration. So here: on the topic of having changed my mind about something, I have changed my mind from “I can write about that” to “I cannot write about that.’
When in doubt, go meta.