40+FAB Blog

How to see the situation

The longer I live or should I say learn, the more I realise that my point of view is not always the best view of a situation. It is very important that we all develop a healthy point of view and outlook on life, however, no matter how robust our view is, there is always the view from the other side.

The poem about the 6 blind men and the elephant retold by John Godfrey Saxe points out the importance of having more than one side of a story. Each man described the beast from the side he could feel, then argued with the others about what he felt to be real. Even though the part they experienced was right, their interpretation of the whole was wrong.

Life is pretty much like that, we get to live a reality that is only in part and we can get so caught up in it that we argue with others who have experienced a different part. For every situation, there is my side, the other side and the whole sides. The most complete picture comes from the view of all sides.

Why not practice giving a little bit more thought to a few more points of view before you make a final judgement about the next situation you face?