Who hasn't heard someone refer to someone else as shallow? Shallow, depending upon the person being described and the person doing the describing, can have a myraid of interpretations--shallow in the way they perceive others in regards to money, shallow in that they have no conceptual capabilities, shallow in the way they act, et cetera. It generally means that the person being tooted off as shallow lacks depth, lacks the ability to have depth, or lacks the ability to perceive depth--whether it be in another person or concept or even in themselves. I don't particularly care for the word honestly. My Grams used to say that some people were children's books, some were novels, some were volumes and still every so often some were just a paragraph. It's true in some ways, although the pages once written don't grow or have the capacity for change. A good writing always follows some amount of congruity--opening, body supporting the precepts in the opening, flow from one part of the body to the next, and a closing that loops back to the precepts in the opening, expresses briefly the body, and closes. People are not that simple. Ironic that a saying to describe people doesn't follow "nature". Is it true? Probably, but it alludes a false assumption that we don't change. A children's book is always a children's book. The words are there for education, to spark imagination or simply to lull to sleep. But Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham will always be Green Eggs and Ham. It has no ability to grow into Tolstoy's War and Peace or Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Unlike a book, although the reference to depth is clear, a person may choose to always be Green Eggs and Ham but it is highly unlikely that life experiences will allow it. Even the most ridiculously shallow of human beings, the single paragraph, has the ability to choose to stay that single paragraph or become something more. We have the free will to become more than what we are; it is our choice to grow.
Like books, onions have layers of depth. Some onions lack size and substance, but can be very sweet--pearl onions for example. Almost everyone loves pearl onions. There is very little variation in size of pearl onions and like garlic they only have one protective layer. It can take them 2 years to become sweet enough for consumption. When you compare to other onions, that's a ridiculous time to wait for an onion to be edible. Yet, some people take a lifetime (or more if you believe in reincarnation) to become a palatable person. Often people choose to be very closed minded--what some refer to as "small-minded". The type of person that disagrees with everything anyone else says, throws insults at anyone different than they are, believes their way is the only way and belittles anything or anyone that attempts to broaden their minds. Yes, little pearl onions typically have fewer layers than larger onions, just like people who refuse to broaden themselves seem to be more "shallow", lack "depth" or are a simple "paragraph" in a world full of novels and volumes. Still, they have the ability, if they so choose, to become the sweetest, most wonderful people around. It's time that changes them and a choice to become more than a sour onion.
Green onions are also lacking in size like pearl onions. Green onions are what many use for "flavoring" in their cooking--sometimes raw, sometimes cooked. Green onions aren't overbearing and are pretty appealing. Some even grow to larger sizes. The stalks of the onion are edible and just as palatable but empty. Often the most "palatable" people are great. They're easy going; they're wonderful to everyone. They enjoy everything and complain about nothing. But often, for the more complicated people, the lack of depth is frustrating. They commit to nothing, they don't appear to have any true loyalties, and they often seem to blend where others do not and the substance that many look for may appear to be empty as the stalks of the green onion. In some cases the stalks are simply there as camoflage as the green onions can grow to large sizes, and people who we assume just would rather blend often grow to want to be much more. To many of them, being the "green onion" can be just as burdensome or in time they simply begin to make choices as life experiences give them a view that is ever growing and changing. Ironically, chefs often complain if shallots get too big, that the flavor becomes more overbearing and that it is not as subtle and non-intrusive to the overall dish. Likewise, as people that might have started as unobtrusive grow, they often become more flavorful, more bearing albeit not usually overbearing, and in fact, their layers prove to be as many and as complicated as other larger onions.
White and yellow onions are of course the most common. They are sometimes sweeter, sometimes harsher, sometimes small and sometimes huge. This is probably most people on the planet. A variation of layers and sizes and flavors. Some are more simple, some are more complicated--6 layers versus 12 layers. Some are sweet, but assuming the larger onion isn't as sweet as a smaller onion is ridiculous. In truth, the sweeter onions are typically the larger onions. Like onions, people that are more complicated and have more layers may be the ones that have more ability to sympathize. An array of complexities and differences--the soil that an onion was grown in--can change the flavor and the size of an onion. Likewise, the majority of people are an array, a collection of the things around them. The depth, the numbers of layers, are a choice but also a conglomerate of life experiences. The irony is the larger onions, like Vidalias, tend to be the sweeter onions. It seems that for the majority of people this is true also. The majority that would be the average human beings--not the exceptions like pearl or green onions--become sweeter as the layers, the depth of those layers, become larger. Most of the time when looking for a cooking onion, we want one that is middle to larger in size for the sweeter but yet still a touch of bitter. Yet, the larger Vidalia are the ones that most people agree are the best uncooked for a burger. Likewise, the deeper the layers of most people, the more interesting they are, the more they have to offer in conversation and the more intriguing they are. While no onion is the perfect flavor for everyone, it is those that expand themselves the most that are the truly most palatable to be around.
Red onions are the showboats of the onion community and have yet all their own unique flavor. They've become very popular in the recent years. The funny thing is most people didn't use to like red onions. They are crisper, colorful and often people assumed were bitter. That's not actually true though. They are not actually bitter but generally a different flavor of onion altogether. Some people are like red onions. These are the people that stand out in a crowd and no one ever really knows what they are like unless they take the time to get to know them. Like red onions, some people are just a very different flavor than other people. They march to the sound of their own drum and they don't care if others don't like it. Sometimes they can be very sweet; at other times, they can be very much the opposite. But the mix of their life experiences, how they look at life, how they perceive themselves and how others perceive them is very different than the average onion. Just by being so different, people that are like red onions are complicated, but like everyone else--be it like a pearl onion or a vidalia type, they choose to grow and expand their minds. Some are larger, and some are not. And like the red onion, they don't choose to stick out in the crowd. It's just that they are so different, they can't help but stick out in the crowd. Standing out in the crowd isn't always what anyone wants. In fact, no one wants to all the time, but if someone is like a red onion, they're going to stick out in a batch of other onions whether they want to or not. These people often have to come to grips with having to stand out and either hermit or embrace who they are. Like red onions can't change their color, some people can't change that they attract attention regardless and they have to learn that not only do some people not like their flavor, but refuse to even try to get to know them because they are so different.
Pearl onions don't usually go well with red onions--likewise a person that is sour and hasn't grown isn't going to like someone that is so different from themselves. Yet, take a little balsamic vinegar, red wine, a touch of salt and pepper, a little brown sugar and some pearl onions and sliced red onions, reduce to a sauce and serve over a steak. It's amazing what a mix of the right ingredients can do with just a little time and effort. Likewise with people, we need to recognize that we are all different, we all have varying levels of depth, varying numbers of layers, and that every flavor that we come in doesn't necessarily mean that we can't interact and actually enjoy someone that is different than we are. It's what makes us grow and become sweeter, better people.
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