In life, sometimes the obvious is not so obvious. I have worn my glasses and kept searching for it. Such or similar incidents may have happened to many of us. While others who see us think it is so obvious, it is not that obvious to us.

Life is no different. The other day my daughter went for a dinner with her family. Her father in law’s glasses fell off his pocket. When my daughter saw a pair of spectacles lying on the floor, she picked it up and handed it over to the hotel reception thinking someone may have dropped it by accident. When they returned home, her father in law reported that he misplaced his spectacles. When she told him about this incident, he asked as to why she did not check with him before handing it over to the reception. It did not strike her that it could belong to her own family members.

In life, there are many things which are obvious to others but may not appear that obvious to us. I am fond of driving cars and love to drive at high speeds when the highways are clear. Sometimes when I have to apply the brakes at high speeds at road junctions I used to get irritated as to why people cannot see a speeding car. On the other hand, they also seem equally irritated as to why, me as a car driver, was driving at high speeds at road crossings. Isn’t it obvious that people may be crossing at such points?

When we reflect on such incidents, we realise that the world is viewed by each of us from different lenses. What we need to realise that neither we are wrong nor are they. It is only looking at life from different perspectives.

The issue is not about looking at life differently. But, the issue is when we form opinions of others, based on our own perceptions without cross checking with them. If we find a child sulking on a festive occasion at home, we may find it amusing. But if you check with the child, it may be because of an injury which she had incurred, during play the previous evening.

The lessons I have learnt from such incidents is that life is different for each of us and our realities are different. We see what we want to see while others see what they want to see. We need to learn to respect each other’s view and respect the different views.

We tend to look at others’ world from our own eyes and then feel disappointed that they are not able to see it the way we see it. The day we realise that each of us have a right to a different world view, we may feel better.

Let us learn to respect each other’s views and learn to live with the differences.

S Ramesh Shankar

15th Oct 2021