We are two hours into our first university lecture for my MA degree and I’m feeling slightly bewildered about the passion in the room.  We are talking about bread.

Of the 27 nationalities represented in this discussion, the only thing everyone agrees upon is that English, white, “plastic”, “chewy” “squidgy soft and glutinous” bread is an abomination on the taste buds. One girl is fighting tears as she describes the taste of her homeland leavened bread, torn by hand with the pieces used to mop up stews and sauces. Another student talks about his Mother collecting fresh, warm, dark rye bread from the baker each morning and him piling it high with pickles, hams and cheeses, so high it’s unbalanced and tricky to pop into his mouth in one go! Yet another shares the taste of a crisp flat bread used as the base for a number of staple national dishes. I talk about Scottish Morton rolls, close in texture and taste to French baguettes but in a high round crisp roll dusted with a light touch of flour, stuffed with butter and honey or spicy square sausage or bacon and runny egg. This recollection makes my taste buds tingle and my salivary glands work overtime.   In this one discussion, my eyes are opened to how bread is a metaphor for home. And that home is very different for everyone in the room.  27 differing points of view, each one valid, each one connected and rooted to that taste-memory of comfort, safety, family.

Of course talking about bread is safe. No-one is going to go to war or challenge another to a fight over describing their national use of flour and water!

I was always taught to avoid discussing or sharing my thoughts and opinions on more emotive subjects – anything to do with beliefs, religion, money, etc. Sometimes, in company I know and trust and to be provocative, this is all we talk about!

But this discussion on bread clearly demonstrates we can all feel passionate about the simplest of subjects.   And every day we encounter different perspectives from our own. While we think we are saying one thing, others may interpret a completely different message based on their own experiences, thoughts and opinions.

Shaping our view of the world are all the stories and experiences  we have gathered through childhood into adulthood.
Daily, we interpret the world through the prism of our personal narrative, our values and beliefs, the pressure of our peer group or the direction of our leaders, using what we hear, observe, read, see, taste and smell.   We are all foreign to each other. Cast in our own small island, keen to be listened to, liked, loved, counted for and understood.

And in all of this uniqueness we are constantly learning, interpreting, deciphering, questioning.  Alternatively,  we are free to assume the demeanour of a despot and decide that it is only our point of view which has validity and truth.

It takes courage to openly put forward a different point of view, knowing that others will interpret and judge.  Particularly when sharing new thinking, not fully evolved but waiting for others to help me bake it with their curiousity and questioning.  It takes a degree of bravery to put myself out there, to stick my head above the parapet, to speak or write the words that may be the beginning of greater collective understanding or wider exploration.  I believe that debate, discussion and discourse are freedoms we take too much for granted in the West. We don’t progress democracy and learning by silent disagreement, sheep-like subversion or proverbial nodding heads. We stand a better chance of understanding each other and the wider world by engaging, communicating and sharing our perspectives, by being prepared to stand up for and defend our views and opinions, and by being flexible enough to change these if persuaded by a better informed argument.

We are fortunate enough to live in a society which allows free speech and freedom of expression.  Homogeneity and silence do not progress our thoughts and ideas, our understanding, our learning and development. Whether we are talking about bread or about our personal experiences, sharing our knowledge and truths should be taken in the manner in which they are intended.

As gifts. To  be honoured and respected.

And shared with  love and positive intention.