“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retainthe ability to function.” F. Scott Fitzgerald
We moved out of our house Sunday. Completely out, there were a handful of things we needed to go back and get on Monday, including my boots. Since I was going on a motorcycle ride I went in there early monday morning to get my boots. It was quiet, empty, and a little depressing. It’s kind of funny. We moved into this house 27 months ago, that was the last time I saw it this empty. The colors were the same, the finishes the same, there was nothing substantive that was different. Yet it was all different. When I saw it empty 27 months ago I saw possibility, hope, opportunity. Now, at the end of that chapter as I begin something else, it was only memory. I didn’t have any regret, we didn’t miss any opportunities, it was just the other end of a chapter. The perspective mattered. Viewed from one end, full of hope, viewed from the other, a completion.
I knew this thought was important and wrote, then deleted, then wrote and deleted again because I couldn’t tie it together. Then, as we were traveling yesterday my wife pointed out to the rest of us a hill side that looked like a sharks mouth, and it really did. But only if you viewed it during the few moments where the perspective was right. Otherwise it was just another hill.
It seems to me that history is this way. Perspective matters. Do we examine history with an era correct lens or a lens of current sensibilities? I think our job as teachers is probably to help with the viewing from multiple perspectives.
We also have that issue when teaching. Sometimes the perspective that made things click for us will never make things click for others. Helping them find a perspective that engages them is part of our job. Knowing how to show the different perspectives to get engagement is part of the art in teaching
The Embed Educator 