We are not animals!

Haha, G doesn't believe me whenever I try to explain to him that people are animals. I've gotten as scientific as I could get, and he still wouldn't accept it. I asked him if he would believe his teacher (when he has one) if she told him people were animals, and he said "No!"

He definitely has his own ideas about things. Most of the time, he's pretty willing to accept what people tell him, as long as he hasn't already formed an opinion already. But if he already thinks he knows something, he sticks to his guns.

:D

What does it mean to be "open-minded"?

I had a friend today essentially accuse me of being closed-minded. I took it very personally. I didn't pursue the offense, not wanting to cause more friction, and the subject we had been discussing was dropped like a lead anvil. I've always thought of myself as a pretty open-minded person, but I don't think I realized exactly how important that particular self-image was to me until today.

The thing is, this friend was sharing her views, and I listened to them. Then I started to share my differing views, and I thought I was being very friendly about it. I wasn't attacking her own opinion or practice, just offering a different way of looking at the issue. Almost immediately, though, she felt like she had to defend herself. "Well, I've read a lot of imformation on [the subject]." Well, I had done my own reading on the subject as well, on both sides of the argument. But because I continued to disagree with her, because I had come to a different conclusion, she cut me off. Forget it, she said. "I can tell you're not open about it," so she just dropped it. Well, I followed suit; I hadn't come in the first place to talk about it, and there really was no point in pursuing the subject further. But, if I was not open about the whole thing, she was certainly just as closed as I was, perhaps moreso. I listened to her. She would not listen to me. Well, that's how I saw it, anyway. No doubt she saw things differently.

But then it got me thinking about: What does it mean to be open or open-minded, vs. closed or closed-minded?
Here's what good ol' dictionary.com has to say on the subject:

o·pen-mind·ed  
–adjective
1. having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments.
2. unprejudiced; unbigoted; impartial. 
— adj  
 having a mind receptive to new ideas, arguments, etc; unprejudiced  
open-'mindedly  
— adv   
open-'mindedness 
 — n  
Famous Quotations
open-minded
"I am open-minded on all questions I care nothing about."

closed-mind·ed  
 –adjective
having a mind firmly unreceptive to new ideas or arguments: "It's hard to argue with, much less convince, a closed-minded person."
adjective 
not ready to receive to new ideas [syn: close-minded] 

So, which was I, on the debated subject? Was I being open-minded? Well, I thought so. I was listening. If my friend had had sources there on hand for me to read, I would have read them.

Or was the mere fact that I already had an opinion enough to disqualify me?

Gosh, if being open-minded means never having an opinion, or never making up my mind, it's really not a good thing, anyway.

Though, I do believe it is conceivable-- and also the most probable-- that I fall somewhere in the middle.