Day 139 Two Sides

April 27, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Seeing the other side of the tree

A Korean couple landed on our doorstep this afternoon, Servas travelers we had agreed to host. After initial introductions and some tea, I took them to Downs Park just a few miles from our house. Chang is also a photo enthusiast and we both carried our cameras with us to the park. We did not always point our lenses in the same direction. Sometimes I took photos from one side of a tree while he looked from the other side. 

It is always a lesson for me when I share a familiar location with someone who has never been there. Apparently, squirrels are not common in some parts of the world. I remember a young Latvian girl’s amazement at seeing squirrels in the park and a Singaporean man’s enthusiasm as he clicked his camera and took 300 shots of squirrels on our back porch. Today Chang and his wife Kyung Hui were also quite interested in our Maryland squirrels. For me, these gray creatures have become so commonplace that I do not pay much attention to them anymore. 

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. ~ Isaac Asimov

To see something through another’s eyes expands my understanding and appreciation. I fervently hope that all eyes watching the present unrest, rioting and destruction in Baltimore will begin to shift perspective so that we all can learn from it. Only then can change take place. 

Meanwhile, today I started looking at squirrels again.

My gift today is new eyes.

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You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html