An exercise in perspective as a woman dashes past!

Hello to all and welcome back to the ABTY Blog,

As I have mentioned quite a few times lately, I often get the most amazing insights whilst witnessing the most mundane of events. And this little episode, on an inner city Sydney train last week, was no different.

To set the scene I will describe my train journey on this particular day, which went something like this.

I was sitting on the train chatting to the ladies next to me and we were all having quite the laugh. The ticket inspectors happened past, and we were joking that having as whole heap of prams in one area was certainly a good way to avoid having your train ticket scrutinised, as it would be difficult for them to negotiate a path through all the prams.

There were three train inspectors and I had actually been asked to show my ticket by two of them at different times, which made for a whole other discussion and much hilarity ensued.

I was thinking how lovely it was to chat with everyone on the train, as opposed to witnessing everyone just sitting there, listening to an i-pod, checking Facebook, reading their books or otherwise trying to ignore every other sign of human life on the train.

It was a really nice change.

Then after a few minutes the ticket inspectors had to leave to make their way through the other carriages. So we bid them a cheery farewell and went back to our general chitter chatter!

About 10 minutes past…..

And then – it happened……

A woman came flying through our carriage with the most alarmed look on her face.

She was racing through the carriage with a real sense of purpose and worry etched into every crevice of her young face.

She really looked  frightened and we all wondered what was going on.

We felt a lot of concern for her as she belted from the carriage before ours, into and through our carriage, and then onto the next. The train trundled along and we all followed her with our gaze.

We were worried that someone was chasing her, or that some terrible emergency had just developed in her life, which meant she had to exit the train as soon as possible.

We all exchanged looks of concern for her.

We were all worried for her safety.

And then – a few minutes later it was revealed that she was indeed being chased.

By the three ticket inspectors ha ha ha!

The mystery was revealed and the dynamic of the episode changed in an instant.

Quite clearly she took off when they went to check her train ticket.

Quite clearly – she was being chased.

Quite clearly – she was in trouble.

But she was not at all playing the role of victim, as we had all assumed.

She was quite clearly in a world of trouble, all of her own making, and the lesson was hitting me loud and clear.

So often in life we seem to make the most huge assumptions when we are presented with a particular situation or picture. The trouble is  - that often times we have an incomplete picture.

Perhaps we are only seeing the first part of the story.

[ girl running through carriage in an alarmed fashion ]

Perhaps we are only seeing the last part of the story.

[ ticket inspectors chasing someone through the carriage]

Perhaps we are only seeing some of the characters in the story.

[ only see girl running and are not still on the train when the inspectors run past]

Perhaps we are only seeing the first part of the story.

[ she later is stopped and communicated that she is foreign and didn't understand the question so decided to run away and that her friend has hr ticket]

Who knows how this situation resolved itself?

We will never know –  and there are no doubt, untold climaxes and finishes to how this could have ended.

But the point is this.

Perhaps in life we should be cognisant of the fact, that we very often do not have all the facts when we are jumping to conclusions and making decisions on a regular basis?

Perhaps we should therefore,  take a moment to assemble more facts if we can, before jumping in, to pass judgement on others?

Perhaps things are not always as they seem to be?

Perhaps we should extend a little generosity  to those around us, and be willing to accept that we may in fact not know what is really going on, in everyone else’s lives and their situation may be far different from what it appears to be.

And as someone who can tend to be very quick to judge, this was a well timed reminder to back off instead of making so many assumptions.

So today – just remember, that for every person and situation you encounter in life, there is quite possibly a beginning, a middle, and an end  - and you may not me privy to all parts of the puzzle. And there may also be a whole host of characters and circumstance impacting upon the situation itself, of whom you are not aware.

So perhaps you can reserve judgement and criticism, until you learn more.

So perhaps you can wait till you have more facts before getting involved.

So perhaps you can extend some kindness and grace into that situation, in case they need and deserve some help, despite how the situation looks on the outside.

The lesson I learned on that little train trip was this:

Treat every situation as an exercise in perspective – as it can certainly change the way you react and respond to any number of people and  things. When the completeness of a situation is revealed, your perspective immediately changes. And seeing a situation from more than one side, or in its entirety for the first time, can certainly change your view. So when you can – reserve your right of reply – which includes your tendency to judge and sum up a situation and its players –  until you know and understand exactly what it is you are responding to. Reserve your right of reply until it can come from a place of knowledge, information and understanding.

#DiscoverYouLoveYouBeYou

Christine