Perspective

Perspective and Decision making

When I was in eighth grade math my teacher, Mr. Peterson (I don’t think we even knew our teachers’ first names) told me to step back from the problem.  He even had us write on the board and then go to the back of the room to look at it.  He was not only teaching us math.  He was teaching us perspective.  I remembered his wisdom listening to a pod cast of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Star Talk.”[1]  Tyson recalled that with Apollo 8 humanity saw the Earth Rise for the first time.  This new sight drastically changed our perspective from a globe delineated by political boundaries to “Spaceship Earth” blue and white.  Earth was perceived as a fragile vessel, our home and out of that new perspective came the decision in the U.S. to create the Environmental Protection Agency.  Obviously there were other factors that led to that decision but I believe Tyson is correct that a new perspective made it possible. 

So, when was the last time your perspective was drastically changed and did that affect your decision making?  It may not be as dramatic as Earth Rise but let me give you an example of changed perspective that changed my decision making.  I have always been an animal lover, especially the warm and fuzzy ones, but insects and arachnids, I avoided like the plague.  In fact I was so afraid of them that I always called someone to come kill the invading creatures.  One night I was alone in my apartment and I discovered a large black spider under a table.  Horrified, I realized I would have to do the killing.  As I approached the creature with murderous determination, it began to run in circles in terror.  Killing it was easy, but afterwards I realized I was the scary creature.  This new perspective changed my view of insects and their main predators, spiders.  Now when I find an insect in the house (other than roaches) I often find a way to take it outside, yes even spiders.  Over the years the death of that one spider which changed my perspective, has greatly altered my decisions and behavior.  As a Christian pastor, I have used the butterfly as a sign of the transformative nature of God’s love.  So I have studied these amazing insects and been disturbed by their decreasing numbers, especially among the monarchs.  This picture taken in 2010 is the last monarch I have seen in Indiana. 

Sometimes we need to get close to examine a problem but sometimes we are too close to a problem to see possible solutions.  So the next time a problem in your life seems to be overwhelming you take a step back and look at the bigger picture.  That may mean literally going away to find a new perspective or just shifting your focus. 

 

 

I dedicate this blog to the memory of Mr. Peterson and all teachers who offer new perspectives to their students.

[1] Space Chornicles (Part 1) aired May 12, 2013