Perspective Reminder

One aspect of perspective is the ability to appreciate what we have and not constantly yearn for more or better.  This may apply to both material possessions and relationships.  It's important to appreciate what the present situation holds, because you never know when it will all be gone.

Consider the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.  They woke up on a Sunday morning expecting to enjoy a concert.  The worst outcome that could possibly be anticipated was a bad hangover on Monday morning.  Instead, by Monday morning some 58 were no longer alive.  No one expected it.  This was an extremely rare, hopefully one-time, event.  But no one expects the oncoming car to swerve into their lane at the last minute, and this happens many times a year.

I was reminded of the need for perspective not only by the Las Vegas tragedy, but also by a recent conversation I had with a small group including Sam, a retired botany professor, born in 1918 and Edna Mae, a neighbor, born in 1930.  She was complaining about the walnut tree in her yard dropping nuts on the ground.  As soon as she finished picking them up for the garbage, more seemed to drop.

Sam recalled that when he was young they used to look for walnuts; they were among the only nuts they had.  “There wasn’t much variety at the store, and the store was four miles away – on horseback.”  They both recalled their mothers doing the laundry in a tub, sometimes heated over a fire to boil the clothes.  The wash was then fed through a hand-cranked wringer and hung outside on the line to dry – even in the winter, when the frozen articles were later brought back inside to finish drying.  He also mentioned that in the hills of West Virginia, when the Great Depression hit, his family didn’t even notice.

Then everyone remarked about the amount of change in daily living in a single lifetime.  People lived in conditions that most can’t imagine today.  Most, because of our inexperience, could not easily adapt to such a life, if they could at all.

As far as most Americans are concerned, life 80 years ago is unimaginable, if they ever think about it.  It’s not nice to be reminded of our lack of perspective by a mass shooting or a family tragedy.  It’s preferable to relax and reflect when possible.

On a side note, it’s very difficult to keep perspective when the news media are primarily interested in pushing people into a panic about the latest news.  The terms Breaking News and Heard It Here First carry that sense of urgency that translates into emotional stress. 

One example of many reports on the day after the shooting, each with an expert giving advice on how to cope with the induced stress, advised viewers that “even those just watching the devastation from home can feel the effects. It's called secondary trauma.”  They went on to say, "You don't have to be at that event to be traumatized by it.  You can see pictures repeatedly or watch a video of those images and experience that trauma just as if you were there."  Another expert advised those feeling stressed to watch less of the coverage.

And so it goes.  The media contributes to the trauma; then, as a public service, tells viewers how to cope.