I was in South Carolina for public speaking and debate Nationals. I walked into a local grocery store near my hotel. I took a moment to survey my surroundings. I saw a midget. I smiled.

Now, let me take to clarify. Midgets are amazing, and I have nothing against them. In fact, one of the coolest people I have ever worked with was a midget. Thus, please bear with me as we discuss how midgets are, and are not different from us, the tall people.

Looking at the fairly tall person standing in the door way, he gave a nod and with a degree of Southern hospitality and asked "How's it goin?". After a casual reply, I began to make my way toward the back of the store to find the bottled water section. Once I had all that I needed, I naturally went to check out. Behind the check-out thingy, to my surprise, I saw Mr. Midget standing on a stool, starting to scan my items. He struggled with the water, but clearly knew he could handle it on his own. I walked out of the store and found the car while lost in thought. His name tag noted that he was the manager. He was obviously quite capable of running things efficiently. He obviously was a very friendly person. He was obviously living a perfectly normal life.Then... why? Why didn't it feel obvious we so similar?

I have been thinking a lot about "Perspective" lately, and this incident made a lot of things "click" in my head. On the car ride down to South Carolina, my friend Andrew had kept me company and gave me the pleasure of some stimulating discussion. One thing he mentioned was a book that compared our relations with geometry. This idea came to mind as I left the store.

In the backseat, ideas bounced around. "We live in the exact same world, yet my life would be completely different if I was him. He has different trials than me, different frustrations and even different tasks. I honestly wouldn't be able to relate with many aspects of his life. Heck, I can't relate to a lot of aspects of my friend's lives. What I would give for a day in his shoes. A day to live anyone else's life." That is when it hit me. What perspective truly is. If you look at a sphere from 1 side, it will appear 2D. You can see its height and width, but not its depth. If you have three people looking at the sphere from different angles, they will only see 3 different circles. As long as someone is looking from a slightly different angle, they will see at least a slightly different circle.
This is exactly how we see the world.

The things around us are 3D, having height, width and depth. H. G. Wells explains that "time" is the 4th dimension. However, the world, as whole is essentially 5D. We all see it from our 4D experience in life and see it as what we feel to be a whole. However, there in lies the problem. When we see something that is 5D through 4D lenses, we can only see part of it.

The world is a sphere. I see my circle. you see your circle. We both see the world, and we both see different things. Perspective is how we understand a 5D idea, in a 4D way. The problem with this, is simply that we talk about the same thing, yet we unknowingly are talking about different perspectives of that thing.

I believe this is one of the biggest causes of miscommunication. You might see a red spot on one side of the sphere, while all I see of it is completely blue. The red spot gets you frustrated, while I don't have a clue what is bothering you. Now, a red spot on a sphere might seem trivial, but it is just a metaphor. Imagine the sphere is my
words, the blue is fun, and the rest spot is your pain. While my words seem to be completely fun to me, there is an obvious pain in them for you.

Do I want to hurt you with my words? Not in the least! Do I hurt you with my words, to my knowledge, for the most part no. Yes there have been some instances that I know of, and I have done my best to make amends. Have I hurt people without my knowing? Hah! I don't know, but I wouldn't surprise me. I see the world from my perspective, and that just isn't enough.

What is the significance of this? In all honesty, I am not completely sure at the moment. But I know 2 things.

1. Don't be afraid to explain your perspective. Especially when I or others seem to miss your point. and...
2. I am need to be willing to take a few steps to the side, and see things from your perspective. I am sick of seeing the world through "me" tainted glasses. It is time for a little perspective.

I feel like I am starting to understand something that is very simple. It would be great to hear your perspective on this subject and, to my delight, my good friend Andrew has agreed to post his perspective on the subjective of perspective.

Hopefully my convoluted thoughts are convey the impact that I am feeling.