Perspective

Why is it that there are so many different views and opinions about life?  Obviously experience has a lot to do with it, but I think it is much more than that. People are born in different places, into different families, and in different times. Culture, genetics, and personality all play their part too. But I don’t believe that everyone is bound to react and think in a certain way just because that is their total net outcome given all of those factors. If we want to understand people and be able to grow our own wisdom, we have to purposefully step out of the rivers flow that is made up of our circumstances.
I think a good way to do that is to understand and strive for a better perspective. You see we can’t always fully understand a culture or way of thought that is foreign to us right away. But we can change our perspective on the subject.

I am a security guard at a hotel and we have about 40 cameras set up that I can view on a few monitors. In some cases I can see the same area from multiple angles. Sometimes someone will steal something and we can go back and see who did it or how. It is amazing how a different angle can change the way you see something. One time it looked like someone had stolen a cell phone. After looking at the first angle it looked like the man had taken it without a shadow of doubt. I almost didn’t even look at another angle because it looked so obvious that he had done it. Luckily I pulled up another angle and low and behold he had not stolen it, but rather had accidently knocked it off the desk and onto the floor. It had slid under the desk and out of sight. Seeing it from another angle helped me see what really happened. I went out to the desk and found the phone under the desk just as the camera had shown. I can’t tell you how many times similar things have happened. The problem is that one angle is limited by time and space. That one camera can’t see it all because it is not omnipresent. Neither are we, but we can give people the benefit of the doubt. I am only one person. I can’t be everywhere or experience everything, but I can leave room in my mind and judgment that maybe someone else has. If I disagree with someone, there is an extremely strong possibility that the person has good reason to think the way they do. Understanding that they have reasons for doing or thinking a certain way is vital in life. It helps us to accept people, to accept our own limitations, and to realize our dependence on someone who is omnipresent.

Thinking about the healthcare bill passing gives me the chills. I don’t like it and my opinion on it is very negative. But the fact of the matter is it passed. The people who made that possible have their reasons. In my little human brain it does not compute. I think that some of those people have bad reasons. I am sure that some do have positive ones. I need perspective. Not only do I (and humans) lack the ability to be everywhere, but I also lack the ability to be in every time. In 100 years this bill passing could be a blip on the radar of history. All in all, I don’t think that the heath bill passing will kill me or anyone I love (at least I hope not, how Ironic if it did). Thinking outside of time can give me just a taste of what God possesses in spades: perspective. It is not only the future perspective that can be helpful, but also the perspective of history. That is one reason I love history. It can give us some idea of why people do or believe a certain way. Where we came from, where we are going, and how we did it. Again, God knows the past, He is still there. He is in all of time. Knowing someone really well on a personal level basically means you have attended their personal history class. If you know enough about them and have been around for a part of their past then you can then predict what they will do and how they will react to things. Just because you don’t know someone does not mean that they don’t have a personal history class, it just means that you haven’t attended it yet. Every one of us has a history, everyone has a past. Not knowing their story puts us at a disadvantage, acting without taking that into account is realizing that disadvantage into a possible mistake in actions, judgment, or attitude.

Does this mean that we are all right in our beliefs and actions just because our history and personality has lead us to this point? No of course not. We can’t all be right, but realizing that there are many things in life that are not black and white can help us deal with our differences. For some the heath care bill is the right thing, for others it is the wrong thing. There is no choice that helps or hurts everyone. Perspective. For things that are black and white there has only been one person to get it all right. Jesus. He was/is also the master of time, space, and perspective. What we do is less important than WHY we do it. He judges the heart. If someone wants to get this heath care bill passed because it will fill their pocket books full of money, then maybe that is the wrong motivation. If someone honestly wants to help the people who don’t have health care, then I very much doubt that God will say to that person when they get to the heaven “Well your heart was in the right place, but unfortunately the right decision was to not pass the heath care bill. Sorry you get one less gem on your crown”. Of course either way Grace is the saving factor. We are called to give Grace as we have received it. (For those that have accepted God’s Grace) I guess that is my point. We should seek God’s perspective so that we can better understand and give God’s love and grace to everyone. It is harder to love someone who you don’t understand. It is harder to give someone grace when you don’t understand why they sin. Sometimes they are not even sinning and we can look down on someone because we get so caught up in our own one dimensional view of the world. Jesus talked about not pointing out the sliver in someone else’s eye when we have a plank the size of Tiger Woods golf club sticking out of our own eye. Looking in the mirror (Jesus and the bible) every once in a while can give us the humility and perspective we need to make sure we keep our retina free of PGA equipment via our reliance on grace to become successful at it.

Next time you disagree with someone, try to look at it from their shoes. Not the height of their shoes of course. Although I would have seen that cell phone under the desk without having to look at the cameras if I did, but I digress.  Put yourself in their shoes and look at the situation from their point of view. It can only help. It takes work on your part. Somehow we get very lazy when it comes to brain thought. It shouldn’t, it’s not like you can break a sweat from thinking too hard. But never the less it is difficult to think about others first. Believe me I know. But when it happens God can give you a piece about disagreements and a lack of understanding.

ALB