Conventional Wisdom

When I was a kid I seldom believed the conventional wisdom my mother attempted to instill in me.  I found her advice to be, well, so conventional. Here are a few examples.

“If you don’t brush every day, your teeth will fall out when you’re older.”

At the time I thought the only real reason to brush your teeth was to avoid bad breath, which I didn’t have.  So until ten years ago, after my second tooth implant, I seldom brushed my teeth.  Actually, one tooth did fall out – it broke off at the gum line one day during lunch, and within an hour I was at my dentist’s office so she could finish the job.  Now I brush my teeth every day.

Score:  Mom 1, Alan 0.

“Get enough exercise or you will drop dead from a heart attack.”

Until a few years ago I seldom exercised intentionally, and it’s self-evident that I have not dropped dead from a heart attack or anything else.  As regular readers of my blog know, more than a year ago I began walking three miles every day.

Yesterday my cardiologist called. He sounded a little surprised as he shared my test results. Evidently my heart is in slightly better condition than it was last year.  Mom would have smiled.  Daveen and I laughed.

Score:  Mom 2, Alan 0.

“Eat all of your vegetables or you’ll die of scurvy.”

Come on, Mom.  Scurvy was a problem for sailors years ago when they didn’t eat fruits or vegetables on sea voyages that lasted months or years.  Besides, you usually overcooked the vegetables, and you only used plain vinegar or lemon juice on the salad.  Yuck!

Today (I can hardly believe this myself), I often enjoy a salad as my entire dinner.  With blue cheese dressing, of course.  Mom, you may have been right, but I’ve never had scurvy.

Score:  Mom 2.7, Alan 0.3.

I never told my (now adult) children to brush their teeth, get enough exercise, or eat all of their vegetables.  But they know.  Maybe my mom got to them somehow.

That’s the interesting part of conventional wisdom.  It’s become conventional because it is, after all, wisdom.

Alan