The document discusses the author's experience with ethics and how their views have changed over time. It notes that ethics are often acquired from parents and peers without much personal consideration. Only when values are challenged does one really think about why they believe what they do. The author was raised conservatively and used to strongly defend perceived ethical views, but now realizes many values they blindly accepted were not reasonable or truly their own. Through open-mindedly learning other perspectives, the author found some of their beliefs had no basis in reality. The experience reminded them of a story where a woman continued a cooking tradition that served no purpose. Now, the author analyzes ideals before defending them and finds debate strengthens valid views while making errors obvious.