When you walk down a
lane, especially when you're unaccompanied and clear-headed, your mind
consciously or subconsciously tends to drink in every miniscule detail
of the setting around you. This has always set me off wondering where
all this information goes. It's just that the mind has been trained to
ignore information that is of little or no interest at that particular
moment and buries it deep into the recesses of the remarkably capacious
human brain. Does that mean that the information is superfluous? Or are
we missing out on something?
The average human eye is always on the lookout for something
that is best-looking or visually attractive. Let's look at an analogy to
gain some insight into this. You're travelling and need to stop
somewhere to satisfy your famished belly. You're on the lookout for a
restaurant in a place that is alien to you. There are two restaurants,
one that looks run-down and another that looks really new and majestic.
There are two ways one can look at this situation. The natural
inclination is to choose the one that looks better. The rationale behind
this decision could be the argument that the restaurant looks better
because it is doing better business making it an obvious choice. But for
all we know, the one that looks run-down serves cleaner and tastier
food. Maybe it looks run-down because the restaurant has sunk it's roots
so deep that nothing can displace it making the management complacent
about the looks of the restaurant. But not many people take this vantage
point. As the old saying goes 'The first impression is the best
impression'. As much as this is true, we should also keep in mind
another old saying 'Looks can be deceptive'. Thus before forming ideas
intuitively, a little investigation will do no harm at all. It is always
good to be a little circumspect before being judgmental. So what does
all this mean? It means that it will not suffice to just be observant.
It's what you do with the information assimilated that counts.
This philosophy can be instrumental in solving every issue that plagues
this world fraught with misery. It's always important to keep in mind
that nothing is unimportant however trivial it might be. There is no
saying when something might crop up that will make you regret your
ignorance and naivety. In the end, it all boils down to one word.
PERSPECTIVE is the word!
