Anyone likes tomatoes? Did you know that it was once believed that tomatoes were poisonous? On one late autumn day in 1830, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson stood on the steps of the courthouse in Salem, Massachusetts with a basket full of tomatoes. Despite warnings that its poison would turn his blood to acid, he told several hundred spectators that he planned to eat the entire basket – and survive. As we can probably guess, he survived all right.

Anyone likes to travel? Did you know that it was once believed that the world is flat? People would dare not to go beyond the known boundary in fear that they would “fall off the earth.”

These beliefs may seem ridiculous now. But they were not so at the time. One intriguing thing about these stories is how beliefs can change. The things we thought to be true at the time can turn out to be completely fault. Our beliefs system has a lot to do with the world we grow up with. If our parents, our families, our friends, everyone we know, and the world around us agree on one fact, it must be true right? It is so most of the times, but not always. We do have a choice. We can form our own belief. And when we do, our actions will also follow. So if our old beliefs are holding us back, why not try a new one for a change? Who knows, biting on that tomatoes might not be so bad after all.

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