Perspective

Recently I've had another one of those experiences where I think to myself, "Wait - I've already done this/been through this/seen this already." It's sort of that deja vu experience but not. And technically the details about the experience were basically the same - the only change was me.

I was different because in this same situation, I was playing a different role. Instead of the victim I was the protagonist. Or instead of the protagonist I was the innocent bystander. Or instead of the innocent bystander, I was an accomplice. I was there in the same experience, but it was different because I was not in the same position.

And so I learned a lesson about perspective. I learned that circumstances may be the same, but how I view the circumstances are different. And that makes the whole picture different.

Now I can empathize with those other roles. I can understand where they're coming from because I was in that role once. Maybe it's different because I'm watching the whole thing happen to someone I care about. Maybe I'm the protagonist who is causing causing the issue and now I understand the impact on the victim. Maybe I was the one mouthing off about something I never really understood - until now.

Maybe that's why perspective could be a synonym for empathy. Maybe by stopping to look at things from the perspective of someone else, can we really understand that person's actions. And maybe we can learn how to handle the same circumstance when it happens again - as it invariably will.

Perspective - it doesn't mean that everyone's right in any situation. It just means that maybe you weren't as right as you thought you were.

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Today is a gift because: Everley time; Lindley time; cleaner dude but not ...