“Let’s have us a look?” the old man asked. He was inspecting the scarred axles of an old Fisher-Davis carriage; part of a sawmill built in St. Louis near the turn of the century. The last turn---around 1900.
“Let’s have a look?” This time asked by a mother, her young daughter had just caught her hand in the wringers of a Maytag Model 92. Manufactured in Newton, Iowa around the same time, they were a workhorse of rural America before electricity became widespread.
Both machines are long gone. As are the inquiries and their answers. The entire carriage was sold from the old mill during a war-time metal-drive. The washer passed down through generations and finally salvaged. The tub became a planter set between a wall of white-washed tires.
The agitator an anchor. The wringers became rollers for a homemade jonboat trailer. The “hit-and-miss” two-cylinder gasoline engine the power source for a young man’s go-cart.
The questions barely remembered a few days. The answers maybe retained a week. The old man had decided to replace the wheels with those from a Corley carriage. The mother had reassured the young girl that her fingers were not broken, only bruised.
The phrase still lingers on. “Let’s take a look.” Sometimes, it is “…another look.” Maybe even “…a different look.” Several marketing and business gurus of the seventies became wealthy pushing for a “new (or different) perspective.”
Now, this was not a totally original idea. Probably the aged mechanic took a knee to examine the damaged equipment from …another angle.” The mother more than likely invited her daughter to step into the sun “…for better light.”
Both requests arguably searching for a differed viewpoint. A changed perspective. As early as the 1900’s, British archaeologist John Lubbock reminded his peers that, “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” A bit of a varied perspective was Thoreau’s view that, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
One of those afore-mentioned experts was Stephen Covey, of Seven Habits fame. He believed, “To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.” He, along with his peers, published numerous books on how to do so.
Not that introspection and self-reflection are not important. Personal growth, experience, even travel—all lead to fresh perspectives. All are good. And much can be gained by reading some of Covey’s, Blanchard’s and Senge’s works.
But much may also be learned from the actions of the old man staring at the damaged equipment. From the mother looking at her child’s injury. They both more than likely first changed their perspective. Their view.
One likely stooped. The other stepped. They physically moved. They actively changed their line of sight. Altered their environment. Literally, chose to see things differently.
And in doing so; perhaps they changed their perceptions as well. By altering their visual parameters, maybe changed their intellectual paradigms.
We all have done the former. Moved to remove the sun from our eyes. Moved, as did the mother, to allow more sunlight into our vision. Shinnied up a tree to look for some familiar landmark.
As we continue in this New Year, many feel lost. “Spinning our wheels” used to be the phrase. Too many are seeing no visible way forward. Financially. Emotionally. Spiritually.
I invite you to change your perspective. Maybe a changed perception will follow. Standing upon a bluff today I had not visited for some time, I truly saw things differently. Let’s all have a look. A new one.
