Monday, June 16, 2008

Highly Charged Perspective

Once again, an email is behind a post.

I received one recently about Rev. Joe Wright.

Now, before I go a step further, if you haven't
heard about him, let me tell you this topic
touches two things - politics and religion.
When those two things touch, it is always
interesting, wouldn't you say?

I am telling you this because I want you to
know ahead of time what it's about, and also
to let you know that I am not stating where
I stand in relation to the "facts" of the prayer
he gave.

I offer you his prayer, and the ultimate reaction
because I think it is an excellent example of
perspective in action. Everyone who reads what
he spoke of is likely to have a reaction to what
he says, based on where they come from.


For the purposes of this blog, I would say it's
not so much the words that are important, as
much as how he says what he does. Essentially,
he looks at things, and calls them by different
names. One name may seem more positive than
another - and therein lies some of the controversy.

I point to it as a very clear example of how
something could be called one thing by one person,
and another by someone else, and how it is viewed
(as in positive or negative) will depend on the
person's perspective.

I found the whole story at www.Snopes.com
(great site, btw, if you ever want to know if
something is true). You can see it for yourself at http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/wright.asp.

I tend to think that thinking is a good thing,
and that anything that gets us to question
may likely help us to find the answers we need,
better answers than we already have and/or
better questions.

When playing the role of observer, it is much
easier to ACT in relation to life.
When we already think we know something,
in my opinion, I think we become much
more reactive. I don't know about you,
but oftentimes I think that reaction does
us a disservice. We either are unable to
fully take in something wonderful, or
miss something in our reacting moment,
because we were too caught up in ourselves
to notice.

For example, here's an interesting
thought to consider:
how many of the people who reacted to
Rev. Wright's message potentially
missed an opportunity for
perspective that could have
empowered them as lawmakers?

As always, feel free to let me know your
thoughts, and have a GREAT week!

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