Salt it before you taste it?

In Russia, people insist on having their three-meal courses consisting of a soup, a main dish and a dessert. As soon as we received our soups in the Smolny school cafeteria, I would reach for the pepper and my Czech friend would reach for the salt. It was a habit, a mechanical action that came before we had gotten anywhere near touching the spoon. "You are being prejudiced," accused us laughingly our American friend sitting at the other end of the table.


We were being prejudiced against the soup. We hadn't tried it but we already knew it was lacking something. You might laugh over this incident but I took it very seriously and applied it to life, in general. If one salts a dish before tasting it, then what prevents one from judging a person without knowing him/her?

The principle behind this practice of adding salt and pepper to a meal was important. I admit that, even though I try to be as open-minded as possible, I do judge people prematurely. I still approach many life situations with preconceived notions. But as much as I want to taste the soup before I put pepper in it, I know it can always use some more.