Views

Views

This morning I sat for a long time

looking at the scenery outside my home

There were tall green trees and leafy bushes,

tan rooftops, red ochre walls,

and a playground with blue and yellow slides.

As I looked out my open sliding-glass door,

I noticed that the shades of colors were different

depending on whether I was looking through

the glass window, or through the wire screen

that covered the other half of the door.

Through the glass, colors were of a deeper shade

while the colors through the screen

were a little more pastel as the wire mesh

diffused the morning sunlight shining bright outside.

Same scene, different views,

through different perspectives and I knew that

if I opened the door, and stepped outside,

I would see all the morning colors from

yet a third perspective as well.

Everything you ever look at in life is just like that---

You'll get different views of the very same things

depending upon the filter of expectations,

assumptions, preconceptions and ideas

you happen to be looking through.

It is good to learn to stand back

from one singular perspective and view

whatever you're looking at through

several different filters in order

to get a more well rounded view

of what your looking at.

Become a collector of ever more points of view.

You'll find soon enough that no single point of view

has a corner on the market of truth

and you'll discover in yourself

greater empathy for ever more people.

Dewey Dirks