Perspective is everything – Nothing is permanent but change! Heraclitus
Perspective is such an important thing to have in the never-ending, ever-spinning, always challenging world we live in. The old saying, “this too shall pass,” sounds trite and cliché and yet everything we experience, the good as well as the bad will eventually turn, change and challenge us. At times you will soar high above the eagles and the view will seem to suggest a never-ending season of success and yet at other times you will be brought to your knees or into the bottomless pit of despair without hope or prospects of finding a way out. Fortunately, neither are permanent – and both contribute to the depth and breadth of your life experience and increase your ability to not only have compassion for, but impact on, those around you.
Forgive me for sharing a personal experience, but as the March Madness college basketball tournament is set to begin here in the United States I am drawn to this experience which shaped my perspective on perspective.
Growing up I wanted so badly to play basketball at the university, and felt like I had done all the right things and practiced all the needed hours (at least 6 hours a day from the time I was in 8th grade) – As a senior in high school everything was lining up just as I had planned it. That is until my right shoulder began to fall apart. It got to the point where it would dislocate whenever it wanted to. (If you have ever had the experience of waking up in the morning on one side of your bed, and find your shoulder over on the other – you know the pain and challenge it brings.) After being examined by the doctor he said I needed to have surgery straight away and suggested that the chances of me ever playing competitive basketball again would be slim to none – it seemed so unfair! I remember feeling very sorry for myself and I was so discouraged. I felt so alone. It seemed like no one understood what I was going through.
Then one night a well-known and well respected man in our neighborhood called and asked if I could come over to his house. I had no idea why he would want to talk to me but agreed and drove over. He met me at the door, no smile, no welcome, not even a handshake – he led me back to his den, we sat down and he told me this story:
“A long time ago there lived an old man who lived in a very small village. The only possession he had was a beautiful horse that was strong and fast. The horse was his only means for providing for himself and his family. One night a great storm arose. The winds blew tremendously. The horse was frightened and ran feverishly about the choral. As the storm continued the gate to the choral was blown open and the horse bolted and ran off into the desert. The next morning the people of the village gathered together to take inventory of the damage from the storm. Upon hearing that the old man had lost his horse the people of the village went to his humble home. All of the people went up to the man saying, “This is a sad day. You have lost your only possession and the only means that you had to take care of your family. This is bad, this is truly terrible.” The old man looked at the people and softly replied, “You don’t know this is bad, you don’t know that this is terrible.”
The days went by and the old man worked his land as best he could. He didn’t bother to fix the broken down portion of the choral because he had nothing to keep in it anyway. The old man awoke one morning to the sound of prancing hoofs and the familiar neigh of his trusted horse. He darted out of bed and ran to the choral to find not only had his horse returned but it had led 50 wild stallions it had been running with in the desert right into the coral. As the dawn came the people of the village again gathered themselves at the cottage of the old man. The people exclaimed, “This is so wonderful and good. Now you have all of these horses and all this wealth you will never have another worry. What a great and wonderful thing! The old man faced the crowd and softly whispered, “You don’t know that this is a wonderful thing, you do not know that this is good.”
The old man had a son who was one of the great young warriors in the village. He spent hour after hour training to perfect his skills with the sword and the sling. One day as he was breaking in a strong black stallion he was thrown from the horse and his leg was crushed. Never again would he be able to use those skills he had worked so hard to acquire. When the people of the village heard the news they responded again by saying, “This is so terrible this is such a bad thing. Now this great young warrior is crippled, what an awful, what a terrible thing. The old man responded, “You do not know this is so terrible, you do not know that this is a bad thing.”
Not long after the tragic incident the cry of war was heard in the land and the war lords came to the village and took all of the able young men off to battle and the majority of them were killed.”
That was the end of the story. The man challenged me to remember the story, stood up and escorted me out of the house. I remember driving home wondering what in the world this was all about and was waiting for Paul Harvey to come on with his infamous, “The Rest of the Story.” But that was the story. It troubled me for several days.
Finally, I had my surgery and I remember sitting in my hospital room afterwards as my friends, and family and coaches came to visit and they all would say, “oh Boyd, this is so bad. Here you have spent all these years practicing and training and now it is over – what an awful, terrible thing.” Without even thinking I would reply, “No, you don’t know this is bad, you don’t know this is a terrible thing!” And you know what?– it wasn’t bad – in fact, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because it was during the long days and nights alone and in the solitary hours of doing therapy that I really had a shift in focus. It created the opportunity for me to set some goals on things that were far more important than making baskets or winning championships. It forever changed who I was and what I would strive to become.
In all the trials and challenges we face in life, often we just don’t know if they are good at the beginning. We just know they are hard. We know they are discouraging. We know sometimes it hurts inside, just to be awake. We know that figuring out what tomorrow might bring is difficult. But ultimately we learn that this too shall pass – and that there are opportunities found within every challenge.
Certainly your success over the next several years will be dependant on your ability to deal with challenge and change. They come to everyone. When they come, what do you do? Murmur? Or ponder? Do join in the chorus of group griping and pity parties? Or do you look for the opportunity to move forward in a positive way?
Positive perspective is a choice. Change your perspective about perspective and you will be able to make every season, regardless of the challenges it may bring, a season of ultimate success.
Filed under: EDGE articles Tagged: | change, perspective
