My prejudice against spaghetti was more a matter of stubbornness than taste. I had always refused to eat spaghetti when it was served to me. I consistently acted this way because I figured that, since spaghetti looked repulsive, it must taste just as bad. I found that I was refusing to try spaghetti for this ridiculous reason alone.

Eventually my parents made me try some. Actually, even though it seemed completely tasteless at the time, the spaghetti wasn't that bad. My parents then encouraged me to finish the rest. I declined, because for some reason I felt it wouldn't be right to like something which looked disgusting, although I wouldn't admit that to myself.

Recently, at dinner, there was some spaghetti on my plate. Without thinking about what I was doing, I started to eat it. I had almost finished when my mother said, "Josh, you ate your spaghetti!" Noticing that this was true, I realized that my unyielding attitude had kept me from eating spaghetti, not its taste. This was an important lesson to me and I now find it annoying when I meet people who haven't learned this lesson.n