Saturday, April 10, 2010

Gaining Perspective On Our Problems



Years ago I watched a middle school cross country runner limp along in last place. As she approached I saw she was sobbing. When she got close enough, I called her over and asked her what was wrong. She wiped her tears and between sniffles said that she was embarrassed and upset that she was in last place. She had let down her parents, her coach and her teammates. What’s more, she was in so much pain she did not think she could finish the race.

I believe we all have felt something like this at one time or another in our lives. We have all felt that we have disappointed someone and have grieved over it. We have all had times so difficult we wondered if we could continue. I know I have. When I looked into this little girl’s eyes I glimpsed the depth of her sadness and wanted to help.

Fortunately, I knew something she didn’t know. I knew it really didn’t matter whether she came in first place or last in a middle school cross country meet. I knew it mattered more that she was there building character by giving her best. I knew that this was just one tiny event in a lifetime of attempts and that sometimes she would not succeed that way she wanted to. Failures, just like successes teach us a lot about ourselves. That’s life. What I didn’t know was how to make that point to her quickly, succinctly, without speaking platitudes that most kids don’t want to hear anyway.

So I told her to look at the giant oak trees that surrounded the course. I said these trees had been here for one hundred years and that they would still be standing a hundred years from now, whether she came in first or last place. The oak trees did not care what place she came in. She could run if she wanted to, or she could stop running. All is as it should be.

I don’t think she expected that from a lone spectator just observing from the sidelines. Almost instantly, after glancing around her she wiped her face, took a deep breath, dropped her chin and finished the race in last place but no longer sobbing. She had overcome her tiny view, and in my book had gained more that day than the winner did.

How many times have we got caught up in our tiny problems? They felt so big at the time, but in the big view were really rather small. When you think of the earth from the view of outer space and see how small it looks, our problems seem minuscule by comparison. To go a step further, we are just one planet among billions in one galaxy of millions and that each of us is just one being on our own tiny planet. What's more, we live in a speck of time that has spanned eons. Somehow it puts our “big” problems into perspective. They are all tiny. Not without meaning to us, but small, really small in this life system that surrounds and supports us.

So next time you face a “really big problem” take a moment to think that whether you solve it or not, the oceans will still be here, the sun will still shine and the millions of galaxy’s will stretch on beyond what any of us can really comprehend. Once you gain that perspective, you may find your problem not only inconsequential, but entirely solvable as well.

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