When Vegetarians Eat Chicken: A Lesson in Rigid Thinking

By Christopher Nyerges
Published on March 31, 2023
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Traditional Turkish celebration dinner. Flat-lay of people feasting at table full of Turkish salads, cooked vegetables, meze starters, pastries and raki drink, top view. Middle Eastern cuisine

This story reminds me of people with rigid thinking and strict, self-imposed dietary guidelines who go out to eat at restaurants or other people’s homes and are endlessly picky about everything that may be in the food. 

Several years ago, after an outdoor Sunday morning gathering, many of the participants gathered to plant a fruit tree as a remuneration to the facilitator. Most of us were helping the two main individuals who’d planned the tree-planting.

As we gathered to plant the tree, the two planners began to argue. One had already taken the time to dig a hole of the appropriate depth, watered it, and gotten the tree ready to place into the hole. The other individual, however, argued that it wasn’t exactly the right spot, and insisted that a new hole be dug about three feet away. Most of us observers didn’t say much, but we thought that a mere three feet wouldn’t make much difference.

an apple tree seedling is set in a hole with a shovel and a buck

The person who’d dug the hole was rather upset at this turn of events, for she felt that all her work was now for naught. As it turned out, the rigid man who wanted to move the hole got his way. He argued that he had a degree in landscaping (or some related field), and that, therefore, his argument had greater weight.

To all us observers, it was a sad sight — something the two of them should’ve worked out ahead of time rather than force us all to witness their dispute (not to mention the time waste).

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