One Person's Perspective
Posted by David Stoddard
There has been this song, or at least a line of a song, rattling
around in my mind this past week. I don't know for sure if it's
from a Saturday morning cartoon, or Sesame Street or the
Electric Company or where exactly I remember it from so many
years ago.
The line is this: That's about the size, where you put your
eyes
That's about the size of it. (It's a lot better sung than
just reading it). If anyone knows where it is from, please let
me know.
The song was about how we see things. About how differently
objects appear depending on how close or how far away from them
we are. It came to me Monday while I was out mowing the back
yard. I started thinking about how small the yard seems today
compared to when I was growing up.
Years ago, I would leap off the swing and begin running for the
far end of the yard. Because it took so long to reach my
destination, I would turn around half way and go back to the
swing.
Today, there is almost nothing to it. Unless of course the
temperature is 90 degrees, it has rained for a week straight,
the grass is 2 feet tall, trees begin growing in the fences, the
sun beats down brighter than ever before and the mower keeps
clogging up because of it all. Then it is a huge yard.
It's all in how you look at it.
Speaking of how we see things, there is a danger in doing the
same things the same way day after day. We become blinded to so
much that is out there. Everything seems the same, looks the
same, smells the same, goes by at the same pace, day--after
day--after day.
We put ourselves into a sort of rut because we only see things
in one way. While it makes us feel better to blame our job, our
boss, our friends, our in-laws, the dog, telemarketers,
co-workers, the weather, our pet rock or just because we were
born under a bad sign for our life as it is, truth is, it has
all been our choice.
Because in most cases, we have gotten ourselves into this, we
can change it. To do it, we need to see things differently.
In Dead Poets Society, John Keating (played by Robin Williams)
is an English teacher who wants to get his students to see life
differently than they have.
To do so, he begins in a small way
by having them stand up on
his desk in the classroom. It is just a classroom. The same
classroom they have come to day after day. But seeing things
from 29 inches off the ground can provide an entirely different
view of the world.
Now I don't advise anyone to knock off everything from the
dining room table and climb on top, just keep it simple. Take a
different way to work, re-arrange furniture, change your routine
a little bit. You'll be surprised at how different 1 hour can
make things seem.
Finally, perception is something in which 650 words can not do
justice. There is so much more to it than just seeing things
differently, although that has a lot to do with it.
There are still our perceptions of ourselves, of our
surroundings, of others, of what others think of us, of what we
think others think of us and so many more combinations.
In a way, perception is who we are, who we can be, what we can
do and where we can go. The best news? We have the power. We are
in control. We can change it if we don't like what we see. As
the song says, (and maybe a bit of a re-write can be used
someday), that's about the size, where I put my eyes
that's
about the size of that.
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