My story of perception is not one to be too proud of, but as promised, here it is ...... So, I pulled into a mall parking lot, and as Im getting out of my truck, I see this old native guy stagger up to a lady holding his hand out. She takes off for the entrance like a gazelle before the old fellow could even say a word. He turns, and approaches me. As he gets closer, I suddenly realize he isnt staggering from intoxication at all, he has a limp. As we come together, he holds out his hand, which contains two loonies, and in a confident friendly tone asks, Pardon me, would you have a smoke youd be willing to sell? Looking into clear eyes surrounded by laugh lines, I realized my perception was out by a mile, and Id interpreted the situation on the basis of Social Bias. I pulled out two smokes, and told the ol boy, You cant sell a wisp of smoke man; besides, I owe ya one. We fell into a conversation, and this nice old guy told me about a health problem which brought him to the pharmacy in the mall, we traded stories about grankids, and generally got on pretty well. Id dodged his conversation triggering question, why did I owe him one .... where I perceived an intoxicated old beggar, I discovered this sweet ol retired construction worker deeply dedicated to his family. The moral of my embarrassing tale is summed in a quote by Bruce Cockburn - It depends on what you look at obviously, but even more, it depends on the way that you see
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 11:54:27 +0000
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