“Can you see it?”
“No.” I squinted.
“It’s right there,” she said, pointing to the cloud.
“I still don’t see it.”
“How can you not see it! It’s a rainbow!”
I took off my sunglasses. Nothing. “Nope.”
“It’s right there!” she repeated, pointing with increased vigor, her New York roots arising.
I stood up, walked behind her chair so I might look from her exact perspective. And there it was. A slice of rainbow. A few feet to the left or right and the colors were invisible. She was triumphant. “I told you there was a rainbow!”
I’m glad it was a rainbow and not a snake or a hole I might fall into. My doubt about what others perceive has bitten me more than once. “It’s beautiful,” I said, the pastel colors slowly fading. A few moments later and I wouldn’t have seen it. It would have vanished and I’d have teased her all day about imagining rainbows.
There are worse things to imagine.
I value her perspective so I give it credence even when I do not see what she sees. I try again and again to see the rainbow that she insists is right before my eyes because I trust her, because I am interested in seeing what she sees. Because we routinely call attention to the beautiful or interesting so we might share the tiny miracles that surround us. We try to open each other’s eyes.
We try.
I believe opening each other’s eyes to the tiny miracles, to help each other see what we might be missing, is what people are meant to do for each other. It’s a primary function of community. We need not agree.
Much to my surprise and dismay, each day that I write, I come to the same crossroad. I wonder how can I honestly write a post about valuing the perspective of others when there are so many perspectives in this nation that I fundamentally do not value? I have long ago given up trying to find access or manufacture excuses for perspectives that I find abhorrent. I no longer try because I do not trust. We are in a stand-off, “How can you not see it?” we hiss at each other.
We do not try. I do not try.
So, perhaps this is not a post about the virtue of standing in the other’s shoes but the recognition that there are some shoes I refuse to stand in. The bridge is burned. I cannot validate the ugliness by attempting to see or understand the other perspective. I have learned – we have learned – that when they point and say, “Look! A rainbow!” what they see is a snake. They would have me call it a rainbow.
A rainbow or a snake? A perspective or a delusion?
Trust is broken in our nation. My daily dilemma is our daily dilemma. Yet, in my deep belief, I hold true that once the snake has faded, once the delusion dissipates, we will have a short walk back to trust. We will have learned a hard lesson about snakes and that might be our first step back into common ground. On that day, we will ask in earnest, “Tell me what you see?”
read Kerri’s blogpost about THE RAINBOW
likesharesupportcommentthankyou!
Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Seeing, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, community, crossroads, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, delusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, perspective, story, studio melange, the melange, trust |
Leave a comment