Identifying with ideas on the very right or the very left of the political spectrum have become rampant. Sometimes I feel I’m listening to a script, provided in advance.

Similarly, people seem to have “opinions” which reflect wider social movements rather than more careful contemplation, manifested in such statements as “women make better leaders”, or, “diversity makes organizations stronger” or ” immigration is bad”.

In such a context, incongruity appears to me more of a value than a drawback. Holding incongruent views may indicate that someone is actually thinking, as opposed to parroting, or towing the party line.

Anyone who reads good biographers learns that many people have very incongruent aspects of their personality. Churchill, MLK, Gandhi, de Gaulle, LBJ, Mother Teresa. Their incongruousness are not contradictions, but rather when well explained, serve as a platform for the whole person.

I have held many incongruent stances in my life: I favoured the imposition of the French language on English citizens of Quebec, I believe that many of the core values of my profession are what holds it back from becoming more relevant, I believe that some countries would have been better off today had they been colonized at some point. I supported a two state solution yet also supported extremely harsh revenge for attacks carried out against Israeli civilians.

Far too often, I know what someone is going to say, based on what they have said before on different topics. Not only is it boring, but it shows up the ideology as opposed to the pragmatism/wisdom of the person. Life to me is like French grammar-a few rules and a million exceptions.

So, next time you hear something unexpected or an answer such as “it depends”…you may not want to jump to being overly judgemental.