The Open-Minded
There is no greater group of people in society than the open-minded. Unlike other social groups pertaining to or united by a certain ethnicity, dress code, spiritual belief, culture, passion for knitting and so forth; the open-minded people are not characterised by a typical element, be it conscious or subconscious like the aforementioned components.
Nay, the open-minded are a revolutionary bunch; whether they are aware of it or not, they are working towards a better world that racism and hatred are counteracting and are sworn adversaries to the open-minded. This admirable breed is from all walks of life, all religions, all countries, and are not bound or restricted by these forces entirely, or at all. Of course, like all beautiful things, the open-minded are rare. The open-minded only emerge and flourish in certain environments; coincidentally most commonly found in institutions of higher education and in areas where ignorance is lacking.
Everyone has experienced the radiant presence of an open-minded individual. The degree to which an open-minded individual can be appreciated varies and are more commonly accepted and valued amongst their own kind. Likewise, the close-minded are more accepted amongst their own kind and when the two species interact, conflict usually arises, passivity on one side and aggression on the other, typically; that’s just their nature.
As we have all experienced the radiant presence of the open-minded, we have also all experienced the arrogant and frustrating presence of the close-minded, be it in their most radical form or just on a particular issue they perceive themselves to be experts in.
I have personally experienced the open-minded in high-school (however scarce they were), university, a family setting and amongst friendship groups. In high school, the most evident contrast of these people was in modern history classes. The close-minded included those who worshipped Hitler and the open-minded who appreciated Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. This observation I feel says it all and more.
Coming to university from high school was for me, terrifying. It was the close-minded I was used to being around. It was the close-minded that I had learnt to communicate and even associate with. The open-minded burst in to my life and at first I did not know how to react to them. Friendly faces greeting me and inviting me to barbeque's and toga parties were first treated with suspicion, apprehension even. Admittedly, I had zilch interest in participating in either, but golly was it a refreshing change from the usual house party resulting in retching. The open-minded supported my transition to university in an overwhelmingly welcoming fashion and I like to think it’s because of more than the thousands of dollars I will be in debt for, for the rest of my life.
The open-minded at university include the individuals with the ponytails who ask you as you walk past if you care about the treatment of refugees, the quest for marriage equality, or those who don’t feel the need to dress for lectures as if they’re going clubbing after. Some would say that university is a cesspool for the open-minded individuals of today and I realise now in hindsight that that welcoming atmosphere and community is a grand thing to be a part of.
My family, (bless them if I were religious), I will not lie: are a conservative country-values based bunch who believe in a hard days labour, White Australia and that politicians are all stupid. It is arguable that all politicians are stupid but as a student of political science I love them all. Anyway, upholding these values, my extended family have little to discuss with my latte sipping, uni-dwelling brother and I, as we see ourselves to have been influenced by the world that the open-minded people have shown us.
My brother and I have attempted to infect our family with a more expansive mindset and I can proudly say that my grandmother has welcomed the prospect of my Fijian-Indian boyfriend as opposed to shunning me as she would have ‘back in the day’.
It is rather heart-warming when and individual set in their ways can become the old dog who learnt a new trick, whether it is something as simple as being more open-minded towards equality or developing more contemporary and realistic perspectives of our ever-changing world.
It is the open-minded who create social harmony, the open-minded who are unique to any other social group, who contribute to a better and more equal world consciously and subconsciously and should therefore be congratulated as the greatest group of people that society has bred and fostered.
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