Sometimes we are so blinded by our own perspective we cannot see what is really happening around us. What we believe is taking place may or may not be accurate. How then can we truly see anything?
Many years ago I was living with my partner. On this particular day, I had started work on expanding the footprint of our chicken coop. I had been outside working for several hours when my partner came outside and asked if I could go to the store and buy her some tampons. As the store was just a short distance away and I needed a break any way I jumped in my truck and drove a few blocks to the local grocery store.
I had a short list of things to buy and wandered the store and collected them in my basket, the last item to find was tampons. My partner had told me very specific instructions about which ones to buy. So I find the feminine hygiene aisle and am immediately bombarded with the myriad of choices presented on the shelf.
I stand there scanning the shelf for the right ones. Well, as luck would have it I had forgotten my eyeglasses and couldn’t read the print on the boxes at all. So I started taking the boxes off the shelf one by one to read the labels. Pick one off the shelf read it put it back on the shelf, over and over again. I wasn’t having any luck finding the particular brand and type. Stepping back a bit and gazing at the shelf I noticed something which was alarming. Many of the boxes had what looked like red splotches all over the front of them. Stepping closer to the shelf I can now clearly see that they appear to be bloody handprints on the front of each box.
I am suddenly stuck with horror. Why would the tampon packages have what look like blood on them, to me this seemed an absolutely horrible marketing decision. Who in their right mind would put what looks like bloody handprints on the front of a tampon box. What horribly poor taste.
I really couldn’t get over the fact that this was actually a thing. That some marketing department somewhere had done this. I shook my head and glanced down, in doing so I saw something that struck me. I had red stuff all over my right hand. Now a new horror filled my mind. How the hell did the red stuff on the front of those packages get all over me, this seems really bad, whose blood is on me?
As I said I had been working on the chicken coop prior to going to the store. Chicken wire can be very sharp and if you aren’t careful you can cut yourself.
I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS BLEEDING
Those were my handprints on the boxes of tampons.
This wasn’t some marketing decision gone horribly wrong. I was the culprit.
Initially, I didn’t have all the information, I was struck by my limited view of what was happening. By slowing down a bit and expanding my view it became apparent what part I played in this mess.
What we think may be happening may or may not be accurate. It is upon us to slow down, expand our view, and ascertain things from a different perspective. When we do this we can gather more information with which we can make a more informed diagnosis of what is taking place.
Slow down
Look around
Try and see things from a different angle
Maybe if I had remembered my eyeglasses…