So let’s try this a different way today, seeing if we can describe the excellent, insightful meme…
You stand here. On the “X.”
I’ll stand directly across from you — only 10 feet away. On the “Y.”
Smack-dab in the middle of us — equidistant from us both — you see right in front of you, the number “6.”
You see it. You’re close to it. It’s not blurry in any sort of way. It is clearly a “6.” No doubt about it.
I, on the other hand, see the number “9.”
I’m close to it. It’s not blurry. It’s clearly a “9.” No doubt about it.
I’m convinced I’m right… and I am.
You’re convinced you’re right… and you are.
Two different people see the same thing totally differently; in fact, from my vantage point, it is totally impossible for me to see what you see.
From your vantage point, it’s impossible for you to see what I see.
And yet, we are both correct.
What would it change in our dialogue, discussion, and our respect for one another, if we had were patient enough to take the time necessary to invest in deep discernment? … to do the work that it takes that truly wrestles with the perspectives and conclusions of another — and to realize that even though we come from different perspectives and make different conclusions, we are both still, humbly, profoundly right?
Two different perspectives can both be right.
Two strikingly, starkly different perspectives can both be right.
“It’s a ‘6’!”
“It’s a ‘9’!”
It’s actually both.
Can we realize that?
Respectfully…
AR