In a hollowed-out cave, a band of three people sat inside. It was a dark space, most of them couldn’t see beyond their fingertips, but it wasn’t a scary place. It just was.
In the center of the cave was a large sculpture. No one knew what the sculpture was of, but everyone had their theories. There was the person at the head of the cave. They said it was clearly a giant snake. They rubbed their hand against the smooth clay of the sculpture and could feel the curves of the snake’s body.
The person to the right of them said, “No it’s a fish.” The person felt the sculpture that had a large flat, fin-like structure. But the one toward the back yelled, “No it’s a tree.” They could feel the sturdy trunk right before it would branch off into the trees’ leaves.
The arguments went on with each person yelling their point of view. It was so obvious what it was to each of them; they could feel it right in their hands. Slowly the cave began to get a hole in its roof and light was let in. With each person able to see just a little bit more, they realized that the other guy might not be as wrong as they thought.
While they couldn’t touch or fully see the other person’s part of the sculpture, they could make out a faint outline and they realized they were only sensing one part of the whole.
If the cave had crumbled completely, the people would see it wasn’t a snake, a fish or a tree at all — it was an elephant. The snake was the trunk. The fish was the ear, and the tree was one of the legs.
Now this story, while written in my own way, is based on the fable, “The Blind Man and the Elephant.” It is used to explain various concepts, but it’s also a great way to show standpoint theory. The theory can be explained with a chart: identity — experience — partial perspective.
For example, as a Southerner (identity) I think a white Christmas would be beautiful (partial perspective). But it’s through my experiences that shapes that perspective as well as my identity.
Because my experience with snow has always been in passing. I have never driven in it nor had to shovel the driveway. This is partly because of my Southern identity, but also because I haven’t expanded my experience with snow. I haven’t tried staying in a vacation home up north during the winter, for instance. All to say, our identity and experience shape our partial perspective.
And we say partial perspective because one person can’t know everything or experience everything; so it’s always partial.
That’s why in a lot of my columns I advocate for considering others. It doesn’t mean you have to change your mind, but it’s important to hear others out because they are bringing another perspective to the table — different puzzle pieces, a part of the same picture.
And experience doesn’t have to be first hand, it can be second hand as well — such as through reading. More reasons as to why I write so many columns about the importance of books and accessible knowledge. They really do expand our world view. And believe it or not, I engage with media I don’t agree with — like a lot of us do.
There can be value and merit even in the things we disagree with. Not to say I don’t get angry sometimes, but I try to remind myself we all have a different identity and experience so our perspective will be different and that’s not a bad thing.
And that’s important for me to recognize. Because if all we do is yell about our own point of view then we are never going to hear the other person. We are just listening to ourselves talk and getting nowhere.
Which is why I want to end this column by encouraging people to write Letters to the Editor. It is a community paper and community voices matter. We need all kinds of perspectives to make this world go round.
Abigail Murphy is the Dadeville beat reporter for Tallapoosa Publishers Inc. She can be reached at abigail.murphy@alexcityoutlook.com.
Editor’s note: We'd like to share your thoughts and opinions with the community for free. You may submit one letter to the editor per month (300 words or less) and a guest column (500 words or less. Include name, address and phone number. We reserve the night to refuse any submissions. Mail your view at The Outlook PO Box 999 Alexander City AL 35011 or email at editor@alexcityoutlook.com
