Rant - Eyes on the road

 

I’ve been thinking. Well, I’m always thinking, but today while riding in the car along a winding local road I was thinking about perception and perspective. A difference in perception depends on your perspective.

Note I wrote “riding” in the car. I no longer drive. My visual acuity is such that I’m not the defensive driver I once was. It’s not an easy adjustment to make. One day you’re in charge and – after a near-perfect 55-year driving record – the next day you’re hanging on for dear life while someone else in charge has the wheel. It’s a matter of perspective, something that may be applied to any number of experiences.

While in the driver’s seat, you’re in charge. You are ever-aware of your vehicle’s position on the road. The centre line that regulates your passage is immediately beside you, and experience tells you more about that position as it relates to both sides of the road. When you’re a passenger, however, you have a different perspective. You are not in control. You are at the mercy of the driver. From the visual perspective of a passenger, the car in which you are riding appears to be crossing the centre line.

Perspective changes with position. If you are always at the wheel, you can neglect or forget the perspective of a passenger. As a passenger, you can be forgiven for being a bit fearful on your journey, because you don’t get the full picture. From time to time, it pays to be cognizant of the other’s perspective, just as it pays to monitor what’s in the rearview mirror.

Some years ago, I gave a talk at a Rotary club luncheon about the internationality of the organization and our individual responsibilities to consider that perspective. To illustrate, I opened with a remark about my new eyeglasses, my first with bifocal lenses. While getting adjusted to them, believe it or not I got a little lesson in physics involving the rearview mirror.

I noticed that objects in the mirror were best viewed with the glasses in the “distance” position. I found that odd, because the mirror – the object I was looking at – was less than 30 cm from my eyes. So, my “near” vision should have been the default; but it wasn’t. It isn’t. Objects in the mirror are in focus while viewed with the distance position – the “setting” if you will.

The point that day was that we need to pay attention to both the near and the far, the local and the international. And whether we are in the driver’s seat or the passenger’s, we need to recognize other perspectives or we risk being needlessly fearful.

Recent essays by a variety of philosophers have brough our attention to the role of fear in our lives, and I suggest that lack of other perspectives can make some fearful even if they don’t recognize or understand their fear. And sometimes that angst comes out as anger. As well, ignoring the perspectives of others – perhaps neglecting is a better word than ignoring – sharpens our focus on what we think is right in front of us and therefore should be obvious to others as well. Instead, a quick and thoughtful look in the mirror can keep us on track.

Our system of politics sometimes reflects a lack of near vs. far perspectives. We, the masses, elect people to represent us to government, whereas what often happens – and fairly quickly, it sometimes seems – is that those elected become so immersed in their new environment that they learn a new language and assume a new personae – and perspective. The people elect members to represent us in governance, but the role they play quickly changes to representing government to us. Think about that, there’s a big difference. The imperative becomes survival of the political party, rather than the welfare of constituents.

The same applies to a great many occupations including business and education, but from time to time, I wish we could remind them to take a look in the rearview mirror and to remember where they come from and why they are there. I guess that’s what elections are for, but that objective sometimes seems to be about power, and sometimes seems about their power, not ours.

I am not one of those who takes the position that all politicians are crooked or selfish or just plain stupid or stuck up. I try to keep things in perspective. I trust they are keeping their eyes on the road.

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