Optics

In this historical time, as we are all "learning" our way through new and different situations/things, I am sure you have hearing and thinking more and more about the way we look at situations and people. I know I've really had some things which stopped me in my tracks. In a time in my life, when I thought I was pretty set in the ways I looked at the world, there have been moments which shook me deeply. 

In the middle of this I want to say thanks to Sigourney IA, and the family and friends who raised me. I count myself as blessed for all that community and its people put me through.  This includes, but is not limited to, my mom and grandparents, Bill and Leah down the street, the county sheriff, the state trooper, my Jr High and High School principals, and a ton of friends and family.

Why am I thanking these people? For pushing me to look at the world without blinders on. They taught me through word and deed to listen to and learn everything I could. We sat at the kitchen table, or at the table at Bill and Leah's, or in a booth at Spaghett's and talked about the world events and how to think about the world. How to think about it with an open mind. They taught me this within a community backdrop that was pretty homogeneous. In my own way, I saw the world much the way a horse wearing blinders does, only seeing part of it. The thing I thank all the people I grew up around was they pushed a bigger world in through my ears, even while I only experienced a small slice.

Then I had the opportunity to go to school at Drake University. I know there are a ton of great schools out there. Drake is where I landed and it was a tremendous decision for me. Many of you know I had trouble leaving there, it only took nine years. The reason I speak to my Drake years next was this was the time in my life I found out how many different kinds of people there are and the variety of situations they come from. Early in my freshman year, I found myself shying away from others different than myself - their color of skin, religious background, speech pattern, sexual orientation, any number of things. In the middle of it, when I was seeing only with my eyes, I found the words those who raised me had pushed into my head. Honestly that was the moment in time I decided I could learn from all of these people I lived with. So, I worked to take off the blinders. I listened and questioned. I tried foods and music and dance and religion. Thing I had never experienced. I learned a ton. things that would never really be important, but I also found out I was, and still am, a lifetime learner. I am still this today, and honestly, sites like YouTube were absolutely built for me. So, as long as I am able, I will work to take the blinders off and look/listen and learn based on what is around me.

Now, here is one of the points I have a huge blind-spot for. It seems to me that given the rest of my commentary today, I should share at least one. Without question, if someone comes to me looking for a job, while wearing a set of pliers on his belt, I am inclined to hire on the spot. Now, this can't be someone who purchased a brand-new set on the way in to the interview. No, those pliers have to feel like they belong and the person wearing them is comfortable. In fact, in a perfect world, I would want to believe the person wearing them could rewire a nuclear sub with those pliers if they needed to. I've hired people in the lumber business, the distribution business and now the petroleum business with this "badge" and I have never had it go wrong. It might someday, but so far, so good.

When you read this, think about the way you look at the world around you, and the people within that world. Saying that you will "walk a mile in their shoes" is just not possible. We are never able to understand everything going on for another person, or what got them to the point they are , but we can recognize their experience is different from ours, and they have the right to feel the way they want about it. Try where you can to take off the blinders and look at the world the way children do, "through new eyes".

Have a great weekend and learn something.