Embracing New Perspectives
I think one of the reasons I love to read so much is that it allows me the opportunity to see life from different perspectives. Perhaps the author is a Black African or a Native American. Perhaps she is Jewish or Hindu. Maybe the character portrayed (as in the novel I’m reading right now) is from a different era. Each offers me a new perspective on life. I get tired of the same kind of book, from the same perspective. Perhaps I get bored. Perhaps I find it numbing. Often while reading from a new perspective, a paragraph or a passage strikes me as important–a new way of viewing to which I need to pay attention.
I found such a passage recently in Sheri Reynolds’ novel, A Gracious Plenty. It’s the story of woman who was badly scarred as a young child when she pulled a pan of boiling water on top of her. The story is from the voice of one physically and emotionally maimed. Here are her words for your consideration.
We choose our truths the way we choose our gods, single-sightedly, single-mindedly, no other way to feel or see or think. We lock ourselves into our ways, and click all the truths to one.
We put our truths together in pieces, but you use nails and I use glue. You mend with staples. I mend with screws. You stitch what I would bandage.
Your truth may not look like mine, but that is not what matters. What matters is this: You can look at a scar and see hurt, or you can look at a scar and see healing. Try to understand.
