Perspective, is different for each of us. One person may look at something and say wow this is great while another may look at the same event and think it is a disaster. Why is it that human beings built approximately the same way could have such different opinions. Some say it was caused by their environment and the way they were raised and these people believe childhood experiences mold us into what we are today. Others say while these experiences may leave a mark on us they are not enough to change what we are. It is hard to pin down the specifics that cause two people to have different opinions on the same subject. If the environment was along was responsible with how we were raised then how can we explain the fact two brothers or even two twins might have differing political opinions? According to the environmental theory this would be impossible. Even when we look at things we may not see them in the same way.

It could turn out aliens might arrive on earth and may not agree with us about what we see. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. We look at a gorilla and what humans see is an animal. Aliens might land on earth and see the same gorilla and classify him not as an animal, but as an intelligent being. On the other hand humans might land on another planet someday and classify what they find as animals, but these may turn out to be intelligent beings. There is no way to assure two people will see the exact same thing. This is one of the problems police have when they try and have witnesses identify criminals. Although many of these witnesses made have looked at the same person committing a crime their descriptions can vary tremendously. Sometimes people are just not capable of seeing certain things for different reasons.

A person might have a color deficiency which doesn’t allow them to see certain colors. If they were the witnesses to a crime and asked to explain what the perpetrator was wearing and what color it was, this could lead to problems. Other people might have blurry vision and because of this are not capable of getting an exact image in their heads. This certainly doesn’t account for all the differences in what people say and perceptions don’t only have to do with visual experiences. Our perceptions of things can be shaped by different ways. One way they can be shaped is by the news media. They may put out a lot of stories about a certain event, but this does not mean this is exactly what happened or even that they are correct in what happened. This is one area where I have some experience and I can tell you firsthand many of the things I read in newspapers or see on TV newscasts were completely twisted. Having worked in criminal justice for over 31 years I saw many events firsthand, but when I read the reports about them I couldn’t believe what was being said. Sometimes it was about as far from the truth as it could be. I could also tell you this, I never read a report about anything I had witnessed which was exactly as what happened.

I guess this has left me jaded and when I read all the different news reports about the candidates running for office, I just can’t believe any of them are one hundred percent accurate. I know the media has its own reasons for printing what it does. Some of these reasons have to do with sensationalism which seems to interest people more than anything else. This is good for getting people to read newspapers or to tune in to a certain station. Another reason is to push their agenda. One has to remember these news organizations are owned by a few billionaires who would love to twist people’s opinions and make them the same as their own. The problem is these billionaires have a completely different perspective than most of us. Their perspective has to do with gaining more power in life and allowing them to make even more money. The perspective of the middle class is entirely different. We are looking for someone to improve our lot in life, prevent war and preserve the peace. These opinions and this perspective seems to be at odds with those running for office, those in our government and the very rich.

When most of us see a store which is failing we think it’s too bad and usually go somewhere else. An entrepreneur may see the exact same store and decide it is an opportunity for him or her to go into business buy that store at a record low price and then improve it. Our perspective has to do with where we are going to shop to get the best deal, but the perspective of the entrepreneur is completely different. He or she is looking for the best opportunity to make more money. Perspective is something we see throughout our lives and it is different in many different segments of society. Take sports for example, we may see a team and think about how bad or good they are, but the coaches may just be thinking about who would play the best in certain positions. There are some teams in various sports where positions are constantly being swapped out in an effort to improve the team in the future.

It seems the United States government has a certain perspective which has to do with remaking the Middle East. This perspective is not shared by many countries in that region. The government believes it would somehow be better for them if they destroyed various regional governments. This has angered a lot of other countries. The perspective of many of the citizens of the United States is different and they want our forces to be taken out of these areas and our government to stop meddling in those areas. There is even a difference in perspective at the end of life. Many people who have relatives with incurable cancer are told they should put them in a hospice. This is the perspective of the medical community who believes nothing else can be done for these people. The perspective of the relatives of these people may be to try to the very end to cure them, thus we have two different perspectives colliding.

We will never be able to get everybody to have the same perspective and the best we can do is to try and understand each other’s views.