Whether it is a sleeping baby or the Milky Way, we stop for just a moment to inhale in wonder before going on with our lives. Every day we make judgment calls based on the information we receive through sight. The distance to our car. The depth of a step. How old an individual is. What skin color our neighbor has.
Wait. Is that a judgment call? Oh, yeah.
I started thinking about this judgment thing when a friend and I discussed scars. Another friend of mine is disturbed because she must use oxygen and people stare. Another is very self conscious about the swelling in her legs and arms. So...it appears that we use our sight to decide if another person measures up to our standards. One only has to watch the ubiquitous YouTube video of Wal-Mart people to see this is absolutely true. The entire video is based on what people look like. That's the only information the viewer has.
What if we couldn't see the people around us? What if they were invisible except for some pretty sparkles? How would we profile them then? What would we base our judgment of our fellow man and woman on?
Try the following exercise: Name five attributes of one of your best friends. How many of them were physical descriptions as opposed to things like kindness, humor, generosity, honesty?
Now think about the last stranger you encountered. Name five attributes of that stranger. Hmmmm. How many of them were physical? So...at what point does our perception change from what we see to what we SEE? When do we start looking past the outward shell to the inward reality?
* The baby pictured is my grandson.
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