Perspective

My son gets bullied at school.

I have a friend that told me, the difference between getting bullied and getting picked on, is that getting picked on happens maybe by different people but happens only occasionally. Bullying, on the other hand, is the same type of mean, picking, rotten behavior, happening by the same people, day after day after day. Another friend, though, feels that it is all bullying.

Perhaps it is a matter of perspective. Maybe it depends on where you are standing at the time. Or how tired you are of getting picked on by anyone at the time. Or whether or not you are truly friends with that person. Or how mean-spirited the picking is.

These boys told him that he is an idiot. Now, anyone that knows My Kid knows that word does not describe him at all. But this other kid called My Kid an idiot because My Son didn’t know something about what this other kid was saying. You know how they say that a person tries to make themselves feel better by cutting others down? Yeah. I think that applies here. I tried to explain that just because you don’t know a thing that someone else does, that doesn’t make you stupid. I couldn’t walk into my husband’s place of employment and do what he does any more than he could do a Theatrical Lighting Design. That does not make either of us idiots.

It’s all a matter of perspective. How you react and interact with the world and everything in it depends on so many factors. Where you were, where you are, where you hope to be. Past hurts, current trials, education, interests, influences…they all affect how a person sees and is seen. It affects your fears, your hopes, your daily life. It changes how you hear and interpret what is said to you. Your perception is your own responsibility, and understanding your perception of the world around you affects your relationship to it.

You have to check your perspective, though. What is keeping you fearful? What keeps you angry? What hurts are you holding onto? Is your perspective keeping you from living your life, loving others, having hope? Does it keep you afraid of the world, in your own world, shutting out the world? It is okay to ask yourself questions, change your mind, alter your perspective. It is one way that we learn, one way that we grow.

It doesn’t hurt to try another perspective on, just to see how it feels. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to see a situation from another perspective, from another person’s point of view. You don’t have to stay there, you don’t even have to agree. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if seeing something from a different perspective lead to just a bit of understanding? Wouldn’t there be a bit more peace in the world if we tried a little harder to see a little differently in order to understand a little more?

Just my perspective.

Kat