Whose glasses?

Whose glasses are you wearing?

I’ve been following a fellow on You Tube, a fellow who is quite intriguing. He has admitted to being diagnosed with Wilson’s disease. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson%27s_disease) This is a disease that causes an accumulation of copper in the tissues which presents itself as neurological or psychiatric symptoms. This fellow, lets call him Keith*, has decided not to take any of his medication, which causes the symptoms to get worse and they are irreversible.

The reason I am so intrigued by Keith is that he is documenting his downward spiral with YouTube video posts. He has posted approximately one or two videos a day, telling his perspective on life, explaining things from behind his "glasses." He has a couple of conspiracy theories that he believes and when he gets stressed he returns to those theories. A typical sentence can go something like this:

“I was shopping for a new camera and was told I couldn’t be there so I mentioned to the lady that there is a moon base and the twin towers were not hit by planes.”

It is interesting because he is quite certain that his theories are correct, so correct that he is writing to people to tell them his theories, some contacts are harmless, one that he has mentioned is quite harmful. He has found the information of a lady whose husband died in one of the 9-11 planes and is contacting her to tell her that her husband is still alive somewhere. Can you imagine the pain his convictions are causing this lady?

Keith and his copper colored glasses…

Looking at my own life, I wonder what colored glasses I’m wearing…

The election is, thankfully, over, but how much damage happened because people were unwilling to treat others with respect. During the election I saw a lot of Facebook posts of people who were blocking others because of their over-zealous political rants. People were relieved that it was over, not because of the results, but mostly so we didn’t have to hear the rantings.  

It got me thinking though about a couple of things. How easy is it for us to form an opinion and then expect that the rest of the world will see it our way. Driving down the road, buddy cuts us off so we get angry. Did he even realize he cut me off and is he now angry that I am swerving and tail gating him like a maniac? From my perspective, he is totally in the wrong, from his perspective, I’m a nut case! The point is that no one goes through life thinking they are wrong.

A little while ago I read a quote that I relate to. It said, “No two persons ever read the same book.” We all come at things from different perspectives, we all see things just a little differently. How would things go if we were to accept that others have the right to have an opinion and approach our differences with respect?

What would the world look like if we didn't embrace each others differences and opinions and only allowed one view point?


*Names have been changed.