I attended high school at a really small Adventist day school in Oklahoma City. In fact, when I first started attending, it was a 10 grade school. But they decided to make it a full high school with my class, and so when I became a junior, it was an 11 grade school, and then, of course, all 12 grades my senior year. My graduating class had a whopping 7 students--or around there. Not many to say the least.
But I look back on my high school years with such fond memories. I loved the people in my class--genuinely loved them. And I adored all of my teachers actually, but particularly a teacher whom we affectionately called Bickell. He had a way with kids and made us feel like we could conquer the world if we wanted. We went on trips to Washington DC and Ozark. It was a family in my eyes, and I loved it.
Recently a person who was in a couple grades lower than me started a Facebook page: "You know you went to Parkview if..." And it has become quite popular the past week or so. But the baffling part is how negative the comments are, even from people who were in my class at the time. I didn't realize how genuinely miserable they were. In my mind, we were all relatively happy, content. Nobody was bullied; everybody was basically accepted--at least as far as I knew--and we weren't exactly a normal bunch. We had our own unique weirdness about us.
Evidently somewhere in those four years I missed the boat--happy in my own world and completely unaware of others'.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend and she was telling me how she thought I judged her harshly for something. This startled me as I don't remember ever even thinking twice about the incident she was referring to.
A few days ago, Jace came home from school and informed me that they were studying ancient Egypt. And then he said, "Mom, they had the weirdest beliefs. When I hear about the things they believed, I wonder how they could believe something so strange. But then I was thinking. If we were to tell those Egyptians what we believe, they would probably think that we have the weirdest beliefs and they would wonder how we could believe something so stupid. So what makes us right and them wrong?"
(Sometimes his depth amazes me.)
We all see through eyes of culture and experience and knowledge and ... well so many things affect how and what we "see". Two people can share the identical experience and have two completely different perspectives. Perspective changes everything. We take things personally that we shouldn't. We judge when, really, we don't understand. We gossip and tear down and hate...all because of our "eyes."
I want eyes of kindness, of acceptance, of freedom. I want my perspective to be inclusive rather than exclusive. I want my experiences to be ones that remind me of laughter and soulful conversations and building up rather than tearing down.
I want eyes wide open.
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
― Abraham Lincoln
Well said. I think everyone needs to read this :) Especially those who assume their own "eyes" portray the eyes of others. I especially love what Jace said. I shared it with Dr. Coombs and he was amazed that it came out of the mouth of an 11-year old. Good job on raising us kids to have "open wide eyes". You succeeded :)
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ReplyDeleteSo basically I read your blog during Bible class today.....way to be a distraction ;) OH MY GOODNESS. Mom your blogs make me cry. You are seriously incredible- i love the way you view life and God and people. And I love reading about stuff we did last year- our deep talks and parenthood watchings and such. Seriously cannot wait to come home. I love you so so much. I am so blessed to have you as my Mom :)
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