Perspective – Two Sides of the Clouds

Hey, you know, I wonder how often we make a mistake of thinking we see everything, because we take one look and we make an assessment about the value of it, or whatever else. Think in terms of the day I first flew a commercial airplane from the ground underneath a cloudy, dull, dark sky, right through those clouds to topside looking straight out at the clouds, or maybe even looking down on them, and basking in marvelous, beautiful sunshine.

That was a day I could make a mistake in thinking that it was really a cloudy, awful day. Actually I just had a lack of real perspective as to what was really going on. We do that all the time, don’t we?

You know, when I was in flight school with the airline, I had two instructors – one, the Captain and one was the Flight Engineer. These two gentlemen, in Texas, had the drawl and the sound of the typical Southerner person who I had grown up thinking was not really in my corner. Turns out, Cy and Randy were the two nicest, most professional gentlemen I ever had a chance to fly with. They were wonderful, they were warm, they were helpful, they were everything that you could ask for, and more.

Sometimes we can make drastic errors simply because we’re not able to really see the other side. When we have a discussion with somebody, I wonder how many times we make a mistake of not giving their side a fair shake. Just like those clouds in the sky, that gave us a false impression about what was really going on, can make us misunderstand things.

The same thing is true of issues on the ground. I’m advocating that we take a good, hard look at the other side of every issue. But, don’t be deceived. If you see the other side and you don’t like what you see, if you’re seeing outright lies, disregard for others, and deceit, threats, bigotry, nefarious activity, it’s totally wise and fair to decide to move right along toward the sunshine of understanding.

It’s important to remember that that sun shines every day no matter what, whether we see it or not. And the refreshing enlightenment that it brings is worthy of our attention every day.