When your husband comes in from outside early in the morning and says, “It’s bitter cold out there,” you might want to consider where he grew up and where he lives. The temperature was 37 degrees. He grew up in North Mississippi where slightly below freezing temperatures are normal for winter and now lives in South Mississippi where they sometimes put in a brief appearance. The same day, news reports had one wave of snow and far below freezing weather following another in northern states. I thought I had the beginning of the blog on perspective, but I recently got a much better one.
When we got the two youngest grandsons for babysitting one afternoon while their parents had dinner out, they headed straight for this much beloved sandbox. Somehow, I tripped and fell as I approached and took the far end on my face right across my nose. Before you worry, I am fine. However, much trauma and nose-bleeding occurred with a couple of little boys standing in quiet awe.
Once we got the bleeding stopped and an ice pack applied, the boys relaxed and four-year-old Benjamin said, “Grandma, you were very brave.”
Feeling a bit proud of myself and of him for his encouragement, I told his mother the next day what he had said. She laughed and said, “That’s not how Owen told it. He gave a full account of the excitement and finished by saying that Grandma was very clumsy.”
I could say Owen is only three and what does he know, but I think it has more to do with perspective. Both boys could be right, and the cold was bitter to Al if not to a native of Vermont. I’m thinking it might serve us try looking at things more often from the other person’s perspective.