Open Mind: exactly how open is open enough?

Five days of Legal Cheek virtual vocation scheme, what strikes me most is that one common suggestion made by the lawyers and legal specialists to the ambitious and enthusiastic young people is to 'keep an open mind'. Cliche, isn't it? But meantime so true, so often, we throw it behind our head without the slightest awareness.

I always consider myself an open-minded person, yet I decided from early on that I don't want to be a commercial lawyer, that I don't want to earn more money for those who are already insanely rich. Besides, I don't feel like a businessperson, that I don't have any confidence in my commercial awareness, which almost drove me crazy when I started to look at those job descriptions - apparently, commercial awareness is a must-have in the nowadays employment market.

But I have a new understanding of myself because I find maybe being a commercial lawyer is interesting, maybe, besides making rich people even richer, they are making the world a better place in a not-so-direct way, and maybe, I could be a commercial lawyer, a damn good one!?

This afternoon, when I sat at the diner of the library, trying to wrap up my essay, four girls came over and started talking about things the 20-year-old girl talk about. I just wore my earphone and kept on working. Then their voices become louder and the keyword 'Chinese' just repeatedly rushed into my ears that got my curiosity. I took off my earphone, trying to make out of what they were saying, then I heard they were communicating how their Chinese friends become so offended when they distinguish Taiwanese, Hongkongness and Chinese, how they were ignorant about what has been happening in Xinjiang to the Uyghurs, and finally the conclusion: ' the Chinese people are literally brainwashed so thoroughly'.

I could understand their feelings, actually, I had been pointed out as being 'brainwashed' myself in the face - okay, maybe not in the face, just on the online learning platform Futurelearn, when I commented on a course about propaganda and ideology that 'waring mask during the pandemic is a way of being responsible to the public',?a student from Australia bluntly accused me of 'being brainwashed'. Besides his arrogance makes me confused, I have to admit that it hurt.

Another thing I want to mention is when I was talking with one of my fellow students at King's about how we felt about all the modules, he criticised one of the teachers 'being so Europ-centric' that the seminars become so boring. Conversely, the module of leadership I took was rather 'cosmopolitan', we not only studied the leadership typology theory developed by western scholars, conducted case studies that happened in the 'Western world', we also explored the leadership concept in Ubantu culture in Africa, the Taoism in China, and reflected the modern values such as 'efficiency' and 'profit'.

How can we harmonize all the knowledge and values in our perspectives and in our daily actions? I know, being critical, being open-minded, but exactly how many people could really be open-minded enough that they don't appear too critical? And with different, even contrast information feedings, would people who are confident about their critical-thinking skills become increasingly sceptical with ideas from other cultures and stubborn about their own 'knowledge'?

The answer I can think about right now is to try to be good listeners, be more considerate and generous, to others, and to ourselves too. Be a good listener to ourselves, then we could be better listeners to others.?