Perspective

Perspective makes a huge difference. I wonder what would happen if we shared the "why" behind the "what" more often. How would it impact our relationships, our teams, our churches, and our impact?

We've all seen the common bathroom that is shared by many stores in a mall or at the gas station where you have to ask for the key. Well...here's one story...

Recently, someone started locking the communal bathroom, and a sign was scotch-taped to the door. In that inimitable management-font-style, the sign read: “THE BATHROOMS HAVE BEEN LOCKED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE.”

Well, no. In most civilizations, it is considered more convenient to simply push open the door than to request a key from the overworked barrista. But no matter.

One day, a friend asked one of the barristas what gives with the locked bathroom, and she said, “We had to lock it because a crazy homeless man was smearing his feces on the wall, and the janitor threatened to quit.”

OK, that gives us a dramatically more favorable attitude toward the lockup. And it may make us wonder — isn’t there something to be said for the cold, hard, gross truth: “THE BATHROOMS HAVE BEEN LOCKED TO KEEP THE CRAZY, FECES-SMEARING HOMELESS GUY OUT. SO WE KNOW IT’S A HASSLE FOR YOU TO GET THE KEY, BUT JEEZ, THINK ABOUT THE JANITOR.”

Stories aside, perhaps there’s a communication moral buried in here. By keeping people at arm’s length from the real issue, the management allows them to jump to false conclusions. (we assume that the landlord was trying to keep non-paying customers from using the facilities, and we may fume about how petty that would be.)

Wouldn’t our audience understand us better, and feel more empathy for us, if our instinct was to give them a glimpse of our reality rather than try to obscure it?

It's all a matter of perspective. We've all heard "don't judge a book by its cover" or "walk a mile in their shoes." I wonder how you can share a glimpse of reality, the "why" behind the "what". I wonder what difference it might make in the journey.

Embracing the journey, pursuing the dream...