Broad - Minded’ness/less’

I read this somewhere, “Don’t be too broad minded, your brains might fall off”.

Nice one!

Broad minded is a much misused word in today’s time. I often hear guys and girls saying, “Oh, my partner better be broad-minded you know…. I can’t tolerate an introvert!”

On few occasions I asked such people how they define the term “Broad-minded”.

“Oh it’s real simple” said a girl with naughty eyes, “you know I love my freedom. And I want that my guy shouldn’t bother me when I meet new guys or hang around with new people. He can have his fun and I mine!”

“See I aint committed so I want to explore the world, so I would like to have relationship with girls who think one night stands are not too big a deal!”

“If he lets me wear tiny skirt and plunging necklines I would know he’s pretty broad-minded”

As the dictionary defines it…

broad-mind·ed (brôd m n d d)
adj.
Having or characterized by tolerant or liberal views.
broad -mind ed·ly adv.
broad -mind ed·ness n.
Synonyms: broad-minded, broad, liberal, open-minded, tolerantThese adjectives mean having or showing an inclination to respect views and beliefs that differ from one's own: a broad-minded judge; showed broad sympathies; a liberal cleric; open-minded impartiality; a tolerant attitude.
Antonym: narrow-minded

So the real meaning has some how been misused to suit our requirement!
One night stands or revealing clothing or two timing a partner, are these actually being broad minded? In a way we could say being tolerant but maybe not accepting of it.

As mentioned in the definition it basically means - an inclination to respect views and beliefs that differ from one's own.

If we think about it we usually have our own mind frame regarding the life we live. It’s like us writing our own rules and regulations and those who don’t follow our principles are regarded as intruders.

But we are humans….social animals as we are termed. So we meet people of various cultural backgrounds and of varied habits and characteristics. Of course we cant like everyone or even hate everyone but if we want to happy we must follow a neutral path by being broad-minded.
Many times we meet people who behave in a strange way and we feel they are so “sad” or “weird” but there must be a reason for that. But in this fast paced life who has time for reasoning? However if we give them a chance we’ll find out why they are the way they are? And trust me it might not do anything for you to spend your precious time understanding them but you would add one more point of view to your live and broaden your perspective.

We lose out on a lot of things in life because we fail to see them in ways different from ours. We make wrong judgments of people from what we hear and never talk to them. We easily get out of relationships because we are not tolerant of our partners outlook. We talk ill about those who are different from us. We feel that we are always right because that gives us comfort.

And when we realize all this we feel how stupid we have been all the while!

Remember one thing, every time you meet a new person give him/her a chance to show his/her real self to you. Take a minute extra before you judge others or come to conclusions. Try and love people without prejudice and the wrong doings they have committed to you. But be sure you provide them with regular feedback when you are dissatisfied.

Doing all this would help you to see the world in a broader perspective and then you can choose the one that befits the situation/person the best.

Hope this reading helps you become broad-minded.

Warning: “Don’t be too broad-minded, else you know what happens ;)”