Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, has a great story about the value of perspective.
A businessman was driving home from work one day and stopped by the little league baseball park to watch a little league baseball game. He sat down on the bench by a young boy in uniform and he leaned over to ask the score. The little boy replied with a big smile, “We’re down 14 to nothing!”
“Well, you don’t seem too upset about it,” the businessman replied.
The little boy came back with, “We haven’t been up to bat yet!”
No matter how old or how young we are, every one of us has our own way of perceiving the world. Even though an- other person’s ideas may seem so different from our own, their viewpoint may still be extremely useful to us. They just might offer another perspective that never occurred to us. How often do we find ourselves saying, “I never thought of that before?”
Often we are so preoccupied with normal activities of daily life that we fail to consciously look for the many perspec- tives that surround us. It’s these fresh perspectives that bring the possibility of new relationships, new opportunity, new activities, new knowledge, and a new appreciation for our total life experience.
Henry Ford shard this insight when he stated, “If there is any secret to success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point-of-view and see things from his angle as well as from your own.”
How many differences could be resolved if we would take the time to look at both sides of a situation? Chapter officers, listen to your younger members and understand where they are coming from. FFA members, take a look at your chapter through the eyes of your advisor, principal or local business community. Have you ever wondered of what an inner city FFA member thinks of a farm boy or vice-versa? For the parents and advisors, I know it’s hard sometimes to agree with our music or style of clothes but I’m sure your parents and teachers were scratching their heads about the exact same thing not too long ago.
Developing an awareness of the views of others is crucial to successful experiences throughout life. Not everyone can see eye-to-eye and we are all entitled to our own opinion and perceptions. But let’s make sure our opinion isn’t decided too quickly before looking at all the angles of a situation.
By opening our minds, our perspectives are going to change over time, and that change can be greatly influenced, even accelerated, by how willing we are to be students of the world, hungry learners who seek out people and experi- ences that are far from familiar.
Come back with me to that seventh grade year when I was first diagnosed with a closed mind by Dr., excuse me, Mrs.
Mallory. Part of that year involved my first home economics class. I was so excited to learn that our class was going to sew buttons, balance check books, pretend to go shopping, and we even were going to cook a full blown meal.
We divided into groups one day for a cooking exercise, and I thought I had drawn the short straw. You see, I ended up with none other than Stan “The Man” Gordon in my group.
Now Stan got sent down to the office what seemed like several times a week. He had a story for every imaginable experience in life, and it was hard to tell if they were all true. But one thing was for sure, you didn’t dare mention that to Stan Gordon. He stood a good half foot taller than everyone else in our grade and wasn’t afraid to fight anyone. He made certain that everyone knew that, too. I had always gotten along all right with him. I remember Stan’s demeanor the day of the cooking activity; he was super excited because, apparently, he loved to cook.
Our group decided that we would tackle breakfast; my favorite type of food is breakfast food so this was going to be simple. Plus, it’s hard to mess up scrambled eggs and toast.
Well, the big day came and we all brought our ingredients for our masterpiece meal to class. Things were cooking along just fine when it was my turn to stir the scrambled eggs. I did what I always did when stirring scrambled eggs and everything looked all right so I set down the spatula and turned to talk to some classmates. I turned back to the stove to check on my handy work, and there was Stan.
“Did you leave this frying pan handle sticking out?”
“I guess so.”
“Don’t you know that some kid could come by and pull this down on top of him? I could have walked right by not even knowing and knocked it all over me! You have to keep it safe man, always keep the handle pointed to the side.”
I was dumb-founded. I stood there speechless. I couldn’t believe it. I had just been rightfully called out on a kitchen safety violation by a person who I didn’t even think knew what the word safety meant. But good ole’ Stan Gordon wasn’t afraid to let me know I had made a mistake.
It was difficult to recognize at the time, but Stan Gordon taught me something more than kitchen safety that day. That day I real- ized that any person, regardless of reputation, background, age, experience level, or personal beliefs could teach me something about life. Up until that point, I had relied solely on three groups of people to teach me everything I needed to know: my parents, my teachers, and my older relatives. I don’t know if I ever considered the people that were around me in every aspect, everyday as a source of constant learning.
Too many times we close our minds to people that are different than us. Because of a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, or their nationality, we immediately think we can-
not possibly learn anything from them or that they may not bring more value into our life.
These close-minded views of the world can make us believe that we don’t have the choices or options necessary to be successful in life.
American philosopher George Santayana once said, “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”
FFA members, be students of the world. Pursue a positive open mind with the idea that every experience can be a learning experience. Not just a lesson from teachers. Not just a lesson from the parents. Every single person can offer us something of value to add to our lives.
The next time we’re randomly put into groups for an agriculture class project, let’s take a closer look at who our new friends really are. Do you think our alumni members or chaperones could show us something never before seen?
Would it be a crime to talk to the person sitting in the seat across from us on the bus, even though we’re of different religions? Would it be crazy to think we could learn something from the person who cuts our hair or the clerk that scans our groceries? Or even our next waiter or waitress?
Every person, regardless of their background, their beliefs, their age, their experience can teach you something and can’t we do the same for others? It doesn’t take a title or an office to make an influence on another person.
But being open and positive to all the experiences we encounter together will take our influence to a higher level.
Looking back now Mrs. Mallory was right about a twelve year-old seventh grader who thought he knew it all. Of course, it’s easy to believe we know it all when our view of the world is so small. But when we strive to see the world through the eyes of other people and realize that we are always learning from everyone around, our view of the world suddenly changes. It becomes limitless in opportunity.
Let’s do our best to recognize different perspectives in our lives and learn from everyone around us. Let’s make certain that we never discount an opportunity or chance to learn something new. Ladies and gentleman, let’s open our arms and embrace the opportunities that are before us. Open our hearts and love the differences we all have.
Open our eyes to see the world as our greatest teacher. Open our minds to a world of endless possibility.