Perspective

What does the word 'perspective' mean?  It means "a point of view", or "a way of seeing something".  Let me give you an example.  What do you guys think of Magic cards?  Some of you might think they are fun cards to look at and collect, but maybe you don't know how to play the game.  If a picture looks cool, or it's a */*, that means it's a good card, right?  That's your perspective.  The teachers at Hess might have a different perspective.  They might have a different way of looking at them.  We might look at a card and only think it's good if it is useful, even if it has a cool picture.

Why am I talking about perspective?  Because today I learned an important lesson about it, and I want to share that lesson with you.

I was sitting in my room doing really important, adult things.



*Ahem*, so I wasn't really doing anything important.  My mom walked in and told me that some blue jays were being mean to our cat, Shadow.  They were cawing (it means 'yelling for birds) and chasing Shadow.  She was really scared, so my mom chased the birds away and our cat went inside.  I got really angry at the blue jays and yelled at them, since I love my cat.  Blue jays are loud, annoying birds, and they like to bully other birds.

I went back inside and didn't think much more about the birds.  Then, my mom came inside and told me to get my dad.



Shadow had attacked a young bird and Mom didn't know what to do to help it.  Dad said that the bird was afraid and confused, so we needed to first give it time to rest before we tried to help it.

Do you see what happened?

I got mad at the birds for attacking Shadow, because from my point of view the birds were doing harm to someone important to me.  But from their point of view, a big mean cat was attacking someone important to THEM, and they were just trying to protect their child.





I never stopped to think about things from the birds' point of view until my mom told us about the hurt bird.  Then everything made sense.  I felt bad about just thinking about my own point of view, when the birds were clearly trying to do the right thing.

We brought Shadow into the house and kept her there,  The young bird crawled under a bush after a moment, but unfortunately, it died there shortly after.  Even when my dad was getting to the body to throw it away, the bird parents were very upset, and still trying to protect their child.  Poor birdy.



So guys, the lesson here is, when you feel strong emotions against someone or something because you think they are doing something wrong, always try to consider things from as many perspectives as you can.

Hope everything is well with you guys.

Tr. Stephen