Dear Crabby,
As we get closer to the election all the yelling, name-calling, and finger-pointing have reached epic levels and I for one am sick and tired of it all. So, instead of adding to the stress, I thought it would be fun to ask you about any unpopular, nonpolitical opinion you might have. You know, something that lots of people love, but you don’t and maybe have never told anyone. I can’t wait to read your response!
Thanks,
Pam Partisan
Dear Pam Partisan,
Do I have any unpopular opinions? Ha! I’m sure Mrs. Crabby would tell you that’s all I’ve got. But you do pose an interesting question. How many times in life have we gone along with something we hated because that was easier than hurting a person’s feelings or being the sole person in a group that disagreed? Take, for example, newlyweds.
The husband has grown up with Thanksgiving stuffing lovingly made from scratch, while the wife comes from a home where stuffing came out of a box. Now they’re married and there comes a crucial moment when it has to be decided which stuffing will be served. Does the husband dare tell his wife she’s making it wrong? Not if he wants to continue chewing with his teeth he doesn’t. This an excellent example of keeping your opinion to yourself for the greater good. I’m also guessing it helps marriages last longer. But there are times when it feels good to stop playing nice and let the world know that their collective popular opinion is pure poppycock!
Take for example the cherished Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Who doesn’t love Jimmy Stewart’s boundless optimism and the overall feelgood message of the movie? Me. I don’t like it, that’s who. Every Christmas Mrs. Crabby made a big deal about the whole family sitting down to watch it together while munching on popcorn and drinking hot chocolate (that I didn’t mind as much). We did this for years as the kids were growing up and even after they got married and started families of their own. And then came Christmas 1995 – the Christmas that changed the course of our family viewing forever. This was the year my youngest son had finally had enough of another helping of holiday hope and muttered loudly under his breath, ‘Ugh. Why do we always watch this?’ You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Finally, Mrs. Crabby sputtered and asked, ‘What would you prefer we watched?!’ Out of seemingly thin air my son produced “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and the crowd went wild. It turns out, most of my kids loathed watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” year after year, but no one had ever had the guts to say it out loud. At first, Mrs. Crabby was a bit miffed that her Norman Rockwell-esque tradition had come to a screeching halt, but it wasn’t long before we had her swigging eggnog out of a moose mug like the rest of us. But my favorite unpopular opinion I love telling people is how I have never, ever played a single hand of Euchre.
That’s right. Even though I am a proud Michigander, I’ve never bothered to learn. Growing up, I would rather be outside playing baseball with my buddies than sitting around a table playing cards. And then as I got older, I was into cars and cruising up and down Woodward. And the more people insisted I needed to learn how to play, the more I resisted. Now, here I am in my golden years and I still don’t know and that’s just fine by me. I actually get a big kick out of seeing people’s faces when I tell them. It’s the little things in life that bring me joy these days.
Wow. Thanks for your question. This has been very cathartic.
Dear Crabby
Stuck in a rut? Need some biased advice from a crabby old baby-boomer? Then email me your question at dearcrabby@rochestermedia.com. You can also head on over to my Facebook page and tell me how wonderful I am.
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