Ever since I was a little girl I have hated tuna fish. It didn’t matter how my mom fixed it, I always hated it. I disliked the smell, the texture, the color and ESPECIALLY THE TASTE.
About once a month my mom would make grilled tuna fish sandwich’s for dinner. I would come home from school and would immediately know my mom had made tuna fish. You could smell it through our entire home. Once my mom realized how much I truly disliked tuna, she started letting me make a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I knew everything was going to be ok.
She never got mad at me for not liking tuna fish but she did try to cook it several different ways before she knew for sure that I was never going to like it.
I have learned so much about life because of my tuna fish experience. I still don’t like tuna fish and never eat it, but when it’s in sushi, I have come to appreciate that it does have a purpose, especially if the tuna has been cooked slightly.
I have discovered that if I would have known what sushi was as a little girl, I may have embraced it better, learned to like it , and may have required a taste for it. However; my tuna fish experience was not positive the first time.
The tuna fish my mom always made came from a can, sometimes it had oil in it and my mom usually mixed it with miracle whip, which made me even hate it more.
Miracle whip is also something I have never acquired a taste for. No matter how anyone tried to disguise it, I usually ended up figuring out that tuna was in there.
The first time I saw my husband he was teaching Sunday School with one of my good friends. He looked handsome in his grey suit and he was a good teacher. I was impressed because he gave a good first impression. First impressions matter, especially in relationships and business situations.
Our first experience with something has a way of shaping our opinions. First impressions matter, and it’s hard to change the way we perceive something, especially if the first experience is negative.
There is a pre/judgement that the natural man tends to give another person. It’s the first look, the eye contact, the way we communicate, it all really matters and makes a difference in how we associate with others.
I often wonder how the natural man gives the complete wrong first impression. Every one has bad days, every one deserves second changes, and sometimes when people have low self/ worth, they don’t hire someone or appreciate someone who is actually qualified or even better qualified than the person doing the hiring,
If CEO’s realized that hiring people who were better at things than they were, things would get done faster. Managers who are good managers, hire people who are really good at the things they’re not good at and trust that their employees actually do a better job than they do, which makes their job so much easier.
My entire life I have tried not to judge people, to give them second chances, to be kind to strangers, knowing that we have nothing in common and I’ll probably never see them again.
As an adult, I have learned that a lot of people perceive me as a tuna fish. They don’t like me instantly, they tend to not want to make eye contact with me and sometimes just the way a person looks at me, tells me instantly that they do not like me.
How can you really know you don’t like something if you never try it? How can you really dislike a person by a first impression, if you really don’t know them?
You can judge them, criticize them and even bully them, but how can you truly know if you can build a relationship with them if you don’t dig deeper into what’s in their soul.
I probably will never like mayonnaise or tuna fish out of a can, but I know I did taste it and smell it. My mom would even make tuna fish casserole, and I still did not like it.
I tried and tried to like it, but I never did.
This experience has taught me many important lessons, 1) You can’t truly say you like tuna fish if you’ve never tried it. 2). If the first experience or impression is bad, we tend to never try again 3) why do we always seem to think we know more about something or someone when we don’t have all the facts?
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to try harder to give people the benefit of the doubt.
To realize that each of us is a Child Of God created in His image. Every one deserves to be loved and we all deserve second chances.
I know it’s ok to not like tuna fish, but I don’t think it’s ok to say you don’t like something or someone if you haven’t given them a chance.
I know I’ll probably never like tuna fish, but I did try it in many different ways.
Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest examples of someone who never gave up and I believe God had a purpose for him and because of that purpose he persevered. A lot of people judged him and did not like him. He had many personal losses and set/backs but he never gave up.
These are a few of the hardships he had to go through
- 1816: His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.
- 1818: His mother died.
- 1831: Failed in business.
- 1832: Ran for state legislature – lost.
- 1832: Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
- 1833: Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
- 1834: Ran for state legislature again – won.
- 1835: Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.
So the next time you decide you don’t like something or someone, remember that not everything or everyone is like tuna fish out of a can. We have to look deeper, try harder and sometimes when the introduction is done right, we get the opportunity to try sushi at the right restaurant, at just the right time, and tuna becomes a whole new experience.
<3 Heart Strings <3 