Perspective

Luke 12 (New International Version)

16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."Do Not Worry 22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest.

I really began to think about perspective yesterday. As you can imagine--most of my concentration for the past four months has been on losing weight, learning to eat healthy, and exercise. Then something happened that reminded me of the above Bible verses, and about how easily our perspective can change.

I've started with the Bible passage--now let's recall the story together. Now you must understand that this story came from a different time in our history. It would not be at all politically correct to tell this today, and just my recalling it to you may cause many to be upset. It was a story that taught me a lesson, however so.........

......Here goes anyway. Back in the late 1950's or early 1960's people from the south of the USA were thought to be different than from other parts of the country. Admittedly there was some factual basis for some of the opinion held, but there were also a lot of stereotypes. For example, it was considered factual, that all white people from the south were racist red-necks, an uneducated sort of individual that scraped a living from the land when they were not moon-shining, hunting, fishing or trying to marry some relative.
It was thought that people of color were slower in the south, lazy, uneducated, and unable to hold positions of responsibility. It was even thought that people of color should not vote. Now--not all people thought this way--but this was the prevailing perspective of a great many people in the US population.

One of the ways back then that news was distributed was through monthly magazines, and there were some famous monthly periodicals. One such magazine was particularly famous for its pictures and the ability to tell a news story with the single snap of a camera.A news editor thought one day about what a remarkable idea it would be to send one of his most famous photographers to the southern states to get a picture capturing this peculiar cultural phenomenon and so without hesitation--he sent his most famous--his very best photographer to accomplish this task. Hopefully the photograph would be ready before the next edition, because there had been some unusual trouble between the white and colored people down south.

As the photographer worked his way through Dixie, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, he suddenly came upon a scene he could not believe. Sitting in a straight cane bottom chair, in the shade of a tree at the end of a field of cotton, was a gentleman using a hoe to remove weeds from the crop--a common practice in the south. At least most of the people who partook in this activity had the gumption to stand and if required stood in the sun as they completed this necessary task so that their cotton could grow and they could make a little money to live on.

The photographer was beside himself. This was the shot. It captured exactly what he was looking for from this "middle American". A man so lazy that he forced himself to do what he had to do, but yet found a way to exemplify this cultural phenomenon he was after.
The photographer needed the perfect shot and he might not have much time. Daylight was escaping, but he needed to change position so he could get all the elements in the photo. He needed the chair, the hoe, hopefully some expression on the farmer’s face that exuded the angst of having to do this task.
The photographer moved closer, being careful not to alarm the subject of his intentions. He sat the camera, got the sunlight in the correct spot, focused and was ready to take the shot...when suddenly he saw it.

It was a fleeting moment just before he had everything perfect, when he noticed the farmer's pant leg hung empty. There was also the pair of crutches leaning against the cane bottomed chair. As he watched the farmer tossed the hoe forward. Got the crutches, grabbed the chair and manipulated it further up the row. Sitting down the chair he wiped his brow, bent and got the hoe and began to cut the weeds expertly from the cotton plants.
Immediately, the change in the photographer’s perspective transformed the farmer from a lazy, racist, red-necked, slow uneducated, irresponsible southerner to a hero who would do what it took to make life better for him and his family.

The photographer took the picture and loaded his equipment with tearful eyes. His attitude had changed, just because he had to change perspective for a photograph. What if he had not had to move the camera?

Now--I have no idea if this is a true story. I heard it as a child. It changed my perspective.
Today someone that I know who was happy that they had lost lots of weight and had things going her way and was happy, let me know that her husband lost a long fight with a mental illness and left this world. Her perspective on what made her happy had changed.
We have to change our perspective. Left, Right, White, African-American, Latino, Legal, Illegal, change---all are important. What must be most important, from my perspective is that we see all sides, pray to our God, vote our conscience and be Americans and make sure our views are good for our Country and its entire people.
God Bless you and God Bless the USA