PERSPECTIVE

A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to your eye.  ~Samuel Grafton

My husband and I enjoy going to Red Wings games.  We usually get the cheap seats, which are still at least $50 each if there is no deal going on.  But it takes us two and a half hours to drive there, and then paying for food, drinks, and gas, well, we can enjoy a game from up high just as much as we can from any other seat in the building.  It just seems like paying extra for better seats can be wasteful when there is much more you can do with the money.

There are many things that can affect your view of the game.

If someone stands in front of you, it is safe to say you're not seeing much, even though they are.

What if you forget your glasses or contacts?  Things might look a bit blurry to you, but not to everyone else.

If you are on one end, you might not get a good look at a goal scored on the opposite end of the ice, but the people on that end will see it just fine.

If you stay home and watch it on tv, you'll see things okay, as long as your reception is clear and you're not in the kitchen getting your two year old a snack.  But then you can DVR it and watch what you missed.  (Wouldn't it be nice if life had a DVR?)

There are so many different things that can affect the way you see something.  If your proximity is wrong or your angle is bad or you look at something as though it is beneath you, it's safe to say your perspective is skewed.

You might miss a great play or be asking your neighbor who scored that last goal.

But what might look like a hook on your end, might look completely different to someone at the other end. 

That doesn't make them wrong.  It simply means their perspective is different than yours.

A couple years ago we splurged and bought seats in the second row behind the glass.  I won't even say how much we paid for them, but it was a whole different atmosphere.  You don't realize how large NHL players are until you are mere feet away from them.  Things look faster, hits look harder, goals are even more exciting.  There isn't anyone to stand in front of you really, and the intensity in the game is tangible. 

It is funny how sitting in another person's seat gives you a different perspective.  I was reminded that just because I choose to spend my money on other things doesn't mean that those who do sit there are not frivolous or stupid.  We just see things differently, and that's what perspective is all about. 

I'm going to have to sit in different seats more often, just to keep my perspective.