10: The case for perspective.
“A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
- Steve Jobs
It’s been a while. Depending on when you are reading this, we are still on the COVID-19 express train, in the middle of a “shelter-in-place” order to lower the bell curve of infections happening faster than the hospitals can effectively treat patients. The government is trying to decide on a course of action that supports Americans during this difficult time, but like most situations these days, the complainers are out in full force.
Think about your situation for a moment. What is your employment status? Have you applied for unemployment? How are your supplies? Getting low on meat and canned foods? How is your mental state? Cabin fever setting in? I will admit, during the past few weeks, all of those factors have entered my mind. If not for my particular home, for my friends and family. My 83 year old grandfather, my 60-year-old mother who is a smoker, and other close friends who are food insecure. The one thing that I will not do, is to start looking around for people to blame this situation on.
Now before you go H.A.M. in the comments section about who could have done what, and why did they take so long to do this and that, and why we can’t go here and there, consider this. Is there someone out there that this situation has hurt exponentially more than I? If your answer is no, I think you need to broaden your horizon a bit more. If the answer is yes, then do yourself a favor, take a moment, let the anger pass and find a way to control yourself. If not for you, for the other members of your family that depend on you. Spending so much time in an emotionally negative state weakens your overall mindset and your immune system, something none of us can afford to have right now.
“You must look within for value, but look beyond for perspective.”
-Denis Waitley
This is difficult. It’s difficult to look outside of ourselves for answers. Sure, you can look at the smaller or more elderly people in your inner circle as people who need your strength, but also think about the people who don’t have people like you to care for them, who are in a terrible situation right now. What if you are friends with or related to a person like that, and you are connected to them through social media. Instead of watching you remain calm, thoughtful, and empathetic, all they see is you grumbling about how someone is hoarding your favorite wine. Sounds foolish right? That’s because it is.
So what does it take to have a better perspective? Patience and processing. Hearing about a particular situation, and before you immediately react, think about the other side of the equation and the subsequent questions about that topic. For example, in certain parts of the country, law enforcement officials are limiting police response to certain property crimes. i.e. larcenies, shoplifting, etc. Some folks’ immediate reaction is, “How can they do this? What if my wheels get stolen off of my car?” True, this is an annoying situation. As a former CSI(Crime Scene Investigator), the vast majority of incidents that I investigated involved larcenies of some sort. However, think about the flip side of this. Right now, members of the service sector( police officers, medical personnel, grocery store personnel) are the only ones permitted to open. These are humans with families and responsibilities outside of their jobs, so if a leader decides that this situation needs a different course of action than normal, maybe they are thinking of you and their subordinates. Is it a perfect solution? No, but maybe the issue here is you thinking someone has a perfect solution to begin with, and that it will always involve you never having to take personal responsibility for your situation.
Are there things that can be better? Yes, of course. But you identifying yourself as a person who is constantly offended and victimized instead of a person who can be counted on by your friends, family, and community isn’t helping either. Choose to change your attitude and your effort to benefit the community, not complain about it.
Stay safe and wash your hands.
-A
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”
-Alphonse Karr
