"It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view." –George Eliot
I saw a thought-provoking clip on the internet the other day. A man went on stage in front of a live audience to share his supposed talent of speed painting. He announced that he would paint an entire picture in just 90 seconds. Well, he proceeded to paint alright, but even after his 90 seconds has passed, the only thing apparent on his canvas was a series of orange and white paint streaks...until...he turned the canvas upside down, 'drawing' a collective gasp from the crowd. He had painted a very impressive portrait of a bearded man. Funny how very different something can be when you look at it from a different point of view.
This little experience connected with another memory in my head. I had viewed a series of pictures of toddlers throwing pretty impressive tantrums. Each of the pictures included a caption explaining the reason for their extreme distress. They included very valid reasons for the apparent frustration like, "I told her she couldn't marry her Daddy...or her brother," or, "I broke his piece of cheese in half," and perhaps my favorite: "He couldn't get his last Cheerio on the spoon." Just the other day, my son looked up in horror as 2 jetliners appeared to him to nearly collide in the sky. I explained that they only appeared that way because of our perspective, but in reality the two were many miles apart.
Thoughts began somersaulting through my brain as I had a minor epiphany: "To someone with a better understanding of a situation (or perhaps a little less emotion invested, providing for a different perspective) many of my little 'fits' or worries would appear just as ridiculous."
"So what can I do with this new 'perspective’?" I wondered. How about remembering that I don't always see things just as they are, and certainly not the same way other people see the same things. This ties in with another message I have seen exemplified over and over again lately. A quote I read by John Green sums this up into a nice little package, "You don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened." Anyone who has listened to any two people tell the same story (especially an older couple telling the story of their courtship or engagement) knows how vast the chasm usually is between the two tales. Is somebody lying about what happened? Because they simply can't both be true!
I think there is wisdom in realizing in our own communications, and in others', there is a line between truth and perspective. I will also be working on remembering when a picture seems bleak that I may need to simply “turn it upside down.”
*Just Google "upside down speed painter" and you can gain a new perspective too!
