Green Eggs and Ham
By Imani, age 15, South Africa
This is a line from one of my favourite Dr. Seuss books of all time, Green Eggs and Ham. I'm sure this was also your favourite book when you were a small child. (It still is mine, even though I am a tad bit too old for such literature!)
For those of you haven't read the book (or need a reminder), it is basically about this boy, Sam-I-Am, who persistently tries to convince his friend, an unnamed character, to try a very peculiar dish, green eggs and ham!
His friend, of course, refuses to try this new dish, and no matter how many times Sam-I-Am tries to get his friend to try something new, he refuses, stating, "he would not like them in a box", or "in a house", and so on. He stands his ground and refuses, but Sam-I-Am does not give up. He is a very persistent friend.
Then, eventually, the unnamed character agrees to try the green eggs and ham. And yep, you guessed it ... he loves them! The obvious moral of the story is to be open minded. In this particular case, it is being open minded when it comes to food.
According to Dictionary.com, being open minded is "having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments," or, in other words, opening your mind to new ideas, music, film genres, people, fashion, and food, no matter how crazy or abnormal they may seem.
Sam-I-Am's unnamed friend did not want to eat the green eggs and ham. He did not like them, but he hadn't even tried them before. Yes, green eggs and ham do not exactly sound appetising, but how do you know unless you try it? Sam's unnamed friend ended up liking the green eggs and ham.
My point is that it is very important to have an open mind. How can you know you will not like something if you haven't tried it before? I find it so sad to see people who say they do not like certain shows or music genres when they haven't watched the shows or listened to that music. I used to really dislike hip-hop music, for instance. The music videos I would see on MTV did not appeal to me, and every time I would hear about some new hip-hop artist, I would say I disliked them without even giving the artist a chance.
Then one day I listened to some of these same artists I claimed not to like, and now I like them.
Being open minded does not mean you have to change your ideas, interests, and food choices. If you don't like hip-hop after listening to a few hip-hop beats, then so what? I am not a fan of heavy metal, but for the sake of my friends, I tried to listen to it a few times, and no matter how many times I try to enjoy it, I simply don't. At least I tried something new, and that's all that matters.
So try something new today. Step out of that box. Maybe even have green eggs and ham for breakfast.
