They say that there are 3 things that you shouldn’t talk about: religion, politics, and money. They cause rifts between families. These should never be discussed at family gatherings. This is a principle that many of us grew up with. They didn’t go into too much detail why these were forbidden topics, but they were. Today, not so much.

Should these be forbidden topics? No. I think that by keeping these topics so bottled up inside is how we ended up where we are today. Think about it. Growing up with this idea means that you’re not talking to other people about it. You’re not learning about new perspectives on how you see things because you don’t talk about these things. Then you grow up believing that your opinion is the only opinion, ignoring the fact that there’s another point of view that is just as valid to consider. The fact is that there’s always some middle ground people can come to, even if it’s just a mutual respect of someone else’s opinion. This can be done through a rational and calm debate. Through polite discourse.

Today, everyone has the “right” opinion. They don’t want to open their mind to other possibilities because they didn’t grow up learning to properly discuss topics. They didn’t learn about coming up with a logical reason for their beliefs or ever get challenged for them. Because they never had to talk about it. They didn’t grow up learning to ask questions or to keep an open-mind. Because nobody talked about these things. These were too taboo to discuss openly and now look where we are today.

Growing up in my household, there was always open debate about these topics. We didn’t always agree, but we did always rationally discuss any of these topics. That’s probably how I grew up to say my piece, consider others, and if I didn’t agree I wouldn’t really fight back. Because you can tell whether or not you can change someone’s mind. You usually can’t, especially in divisive times like these where everyone seems to stick to their convictions.