A Shift in Perspective

It was a full moon night and the stars shone brilliantly up in the sky. It was a balmy night for lovers to stroll together, for the children to play in the moonlight and for the elderly to sit out in their porches soaking in the soothing breeze.  

A thief crept about outside, at a distance, looking desperately for a house that was in darkness but he could not find any. Obviously it was a night for everyone to stay awake. Slowly, the night sky began to lighten and the early rays of the sun shone in the distance. After hours of waiting, watching and looking for a sleeping house, the thief grew tired and decided to rest awhile under a tree. Soon, he was fast asleep, oblivious to his surroundings.

The sun rays became a bit stronger but the thief was unmoved. Slowly, the place began filling up with people going about their day’s business. A drunk walked unsteadily along and seeing the thief curled up under the tree, muttered, “This man must have drunk himself senseless last night and was not able to get past this tree to walk up to his house. When will people know their limits? He spat scornfully and tottered past.

The sun was almost up and yet the thief slept on. A gambler strolled along and caught sight of the thief. He shook his head sadly, “Poor chap. He must have gambled everything away last night and his wife did not let him in. He should have known when to call it quits”. He bent down and went through his pockets and found nothing. He straightened, checked if his money was safe and satisfied, walked on.

By now, a group of children had gathered together to play and were running around with a ball. A man cautioned the children from making too much noise, “Children, mind you don’t wake that man up. He is sleeping.” The man was another thief and had recognized his comrade in arms. He realized that the thief must have tried to rob last night, found nothing and was sleeping off his frustration.

A little later, a priest came by and on seeing the curled up sleeping thief, his heart filled with compassion. “The poor man must have been robbed last night and did not have any money to catch the bus to go home.” He pulled a note from his pocket and pushed it into the thief’s pocket and walked away.

Is it not amazing, how a single situation was viewed in so many different ways by different people? This is exactly how and why we form opinions of people, places and things, based on our experiences and perspective although we are unable to accept the possibility that there can be other perspectives beside our own and that we need to open ourselves to other viewpoints too.

For instance, if we can walk into a room filled with different kinds of flowers of different colors, shapes, fragrances and can love every flower with equal intensity, then why is it hard for us to accept, leave alone love, other people belonging to different races, colors, countries or religions?  

It will not be hard, if you try to be in the other person’s shoes and observe situations through their eyes, sometimes. Seeing something through the eyes of another person, puts a whole new perspective on a situation and you may find yourself rearranging your own, in light of this new discovery.

It is so important not to be dogmatic about your beliefs, inflexible in your thoughts and rigid about your ideas, in order to co-exist peacefully with everybody on this planet We are all struggling to find our space on this planet teeming with billions of people like us, we all have our problems in life, challenges to be faced and obstacles to be crossed but we can transcend them, if we adopt the “live and let live” policy and not be bogged down by misunderstandings, hatred, delusions and misplaced sense of self importance, in our lives.

There is a blessing in every situation but it is obscured from plain sight only temporarily. The moment we shift our perspective a bit, we will be visited by a blinding light inside us that will awaken our minds and purify our soul.

Watch this wonderful depiction of our planet in this wide cosmos.