Paying Attention To Perspective

Blog post #302 of 365

Random internet story:

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging her laundry outside. "That laundry is not very clean, she must not know how to do laundry correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap." Her husband looks on, remaining silent. Every time her neighbor hangs her laundry to dry, the young woman makes the same comments. A month goes by, the woman is surprised to see nice clean clothes on the line and says to her husband, "It looks like she finally learned how to get her clothes clean. I wonder who taught her?" The husband replies, "I got up early this morning and cleaned the windows." And so it is with life... what we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window we look through.

I have no idea where it originated but I have time and time again seen many people looking at the same situations with highly different conclusions. Like parenting, politics, religion, the economy, healthcare etc. Everyone sees but their conclusions often differ.

Now for me I would have gone over to help my neighbor but the minute I stepped out the door I would have seen her clean laundry on the line. Then I have probably gone back inside and baked something, then walked over to introduce myself because that is how I am. Do you know your neighbors? I know mine.

Sometimes it helps to have some help with perspective. Admittedly sometimes it just confuses the situation but it always helps to look at things from more than one angle. Like maybe stepping outside, wearing your glasses or perhaps cleaning your window.

Our best bet is to keep judgement until all of the facts are in.