\u201cYou\u2019re gunna love it!\u201d (You better!) Because people don\u2019t like it when you don\u2019t like what they like. It comes up quite often with food. \u201cTaste this; you\u2019ll love it!\u201d But, you don\u2019t. In fact, it tastes awful to you. Now you\u2019re in for it. If you say, \u201cI really don\u2019t like it,\u201d you get a \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with you\u201d look. And then you are told, \u201cYou don\u2019t know what\u2019s good.\u201d This happens to me all the time. I grew up on a bland diet; I don\u2019t like foods with a heavy dose of garlic, anything in the olive taste realm or hot spicy food. I get hissed at all the time. \u201cYou\u2019re a finicky eater!\u201d Because, PEOPLE DON\u2019T LIKE IT WHEN YOU DON\u2019T LIKE WHAT THEY LIKE!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not just food. Movies too. \u201cOh, we loved the bla-bla-bla movie.\u201d When I saw it, I thought it was stupid; a thin transparent plot, artificial, unrealistic characters, and a predictable outcome. I know better than to vocalize my opinions. I just say it was okay. I don\u2019t want to get that look of, \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Books, places, people, TV shows; the landscape is full of things that people expect you to love because they do. It\u2019s dangerous out there. It\u2019s made me into a liar, or at least caused me to use half-truths when I disagree with other people\u2019s opinion. I have two choices: tell the truth and get put on the \u201cstupid, doesn\u2019t get it\u201d list, or give a diplomatic response that shelters my true feelings. I do a little of both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first encounter with a really bad, you\u2019re gunna love it, but hated it situation, took place in Keeseville, N.Y. in 1970, a small village in northern New York, a mere 70 miles south of Montreal. I lived in that area for two years. One morning I went fishing with the Keeseville Mayor. After we finished, we went to his house for lunch. His wife went into the kitchen, promising a gourmet treat, a lunchtime specialty of hers. \u201cLunch is ready,\u201d she chimed from the kitchen. \u201cYou\u2019re gunna love it!\u201d There on my plate were three egg salad sandwiches loaded with sliced olives. I hate egg salad; I hate olives, but I was \u201cYoung\u201d Lessler back then. That\u2019s what everyone called me. I wasn\u2019t an old coot who would have handled the situation differently, probably with an egg allergy lie. So, I choked down the three sandwiches and forever after lived in dread of those words, \u201cYou\u2019re gunna love it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n