A Matter of Perspective

The Lone Ranger and Tonto stopped in the desert for the night.After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says,"Kemo Sabe, look towards sky, what you see?"

The Lone Ranger replies, "I see millions of stars."

"What that tell you?" asked Tonto.

The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, "Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meterologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow."

Tonto is silent for a moment, then says,"Kemo Sabe, you dumber than buffalo. It mean someone stole tent."

Sometimes all it takes to make sense of a situation (maybe even the world in general) is to look at it from a different perspective. Today we are more likely to hear words like 'think outside the box' but it basically means the same thing. Maybe that's part of why it's often good to talk things over with someone else. Individuals see things differently. Discussing those differences can help us reach useful conclusions...or compromises.

I have a sheet I've used in difficult situations that depicts a pig saying, "Oink, oink, oink" and a duck saying "Quack, quack, quack." This 'conversation' goes on for a while until both critters are saying "Quoink, quoink, quoink." In other words, they've reached a compromise and can get on with their lives/projects/etc.