Tuesday, July 23, 2019

On being a snob

I was recently talking with an old friend who I very rarely see.  Actually, the funny thing is that I see him ALL THE TIME, but I never spend time with him.  He lives about two miles away from me but on the same street.  I see him driving all the time.  For a while, I'd see him daily, driving east while I was driving west.  We must have had the exact same schedule that week or something.  It's weird.

Anyway, a mutual friend's dad passed away recently, and the funeral was at the church where I work.  After the funeral, he stopped by to say hi.  I told him hi, and we chatted for a while.  I told him that I thought that it was funny because I see him all over the place.  He told me that he saw me at a restaurant recently, but he didn't say hi.  That's fair, I guess.  I mean, I don't say hi to him when I see him driving the opposite direction that I am going on a fairly busy street (seriously, though, I'm only being passive-aggressive as a joke here.  There actually are no hard feelings.  I was having a bad day the day that he says he saw me, and I probably wouldn't have been super excited about chit chatting anyway).

This guy is kind of a food-snob.  He comes from a family that emphasizes food a lot.  It's a big part of their family life.  His mom is an incredible cook, and he grew up eating only high quality foods!  He has been truly blessed in that area, more so than most.  It makes sense that a love for good food grew so strong in him given his upbringing.  He also works in the food industry.  He owns a food truck (this is how I see him driving all over the place.  I see his food truck and sure enough, it's always him driving it).  While we were chatting after our friend's dad's funeral, he mentioned that he saw me at a restaurant (as I previously mentioned), and he said something along the lines of, "I did not want to go to that restaurant.  The people I was with made me.  Their food is terrible."  I remember feeling very defensive when he said this to me.  He did apologize, basically to rub it in that he's a snob about food, better than me, and that he's sorry for insulting me.

This interaction bothered me, but I couldn't exactly figure out why.  Did it bother me that he's better than me?  No.  I don't necessarily agree with his assessment of the situation.  He might be better than me, but it's certainly not because of his preference in food.  A person's preference is just that...a preference.  It makes no difference if you prefer one type of food and I don't, or vice versa.  At least that's not how I judge a person's character.

It bothered me because I felt guilty, like I should be the one apologizing.  I felt kind of sad for him, that he didn't enjoy the food that I did enjoy.  I love the restaurant that we were talking about.  I know a lot of people who do, too.  It's not like it was a Taco Bell or something (which, for the record, I also enjoy).  It was a decent restaurant.  A sit-down place (not that that determines the quality of the food).  I felt bad for him.  Sure, he really loves fine food.  That's great!  I also enjoy fine food (probably, to be fair, I don't really eat fine food often).  However, since I am not a snob about food, I could enjoy something that he couldn't.  That makes me sad for him, not for me.

I don't think that we are called to be snobs, and yet, we tend to pride ourselves on our snobbishness.  The more we can find fault with the mediocre, the better we are somehow.  Is that good, though?  Should we be snobs?

I am a notoriously picky eater.  I wish that I wasn't.  I hate that people are always like, "Mmmmm...steak is SOOOOO good!"  Ugh.  Gross.  I wish I tasted what they taste when they eat steak.  I swear my taste buds are broken.  But being picky is different than being a snob.  I definitely don't think that I'm better than anyone because I don't like steak.  Geez...I KNOW I'm worse off because I don't get as much enjoyment out of it.  Or any enjoyment for that matter!  I wish I did!  I know that I'm the one missing out.

I will also admit that I am a snob about certain things, too.  I am.  But, in a way, I'm not proud of my snobbishness.  Whenever I discover that I'm acting like a snob, I have to work really hard at stopping that behavior.  The funny thing is that it's hard to stop!  It's a huge challenge to say, "Pride, go away!"  Pride is sticky.

Being a snob steals the joy out of your own life more than it does others.  Work on ridding it from your life, so you can really begin to enjoy the little things, like food from a non-authentic Mexican restaurant.  You'll be a happier person because of it!

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