Another Point of View

Recently it occurred to me (this isn't actually a new revelation, more like a repeated revelation that I'm hit with every few years) that through our own eyes, our surroundings and behaviors seem commonplace. Although there are moments where each and every one of us is forced to see the view that others have of us, such as when we have unexpected company show up - we are aware of exactly what our house must look like through the eyes of another. A mirror forces us to see how we appear to someone else.

About five years ago, I noticed several things about my surroundings and my behavior that I hadn't before. My son was around two years old at the time, and I happened to be chatting on the computer in a very quiet room, no TV, no radio, just the sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard as I sent my messages, and silence while I read the words that appeared on the screen before me. I laughed out loud at what was being written to me, and that's when I noticed I was being watched...vicariously, with curiosity and intensity. Should that have surprised me? I mean, really what he was seeing was his monther sitting on a chair staring at a glowing box with little black squiglies in the lighted part of the box, all while laughing and pushing buttons. Tapity Tap Tap, "Ha ha ha!!" I know what I would have thought...

The other opportunity that I had to be forced into seeing the viewpoint of another was a trip back to my hometown of Los Angeles, I currently live in a tiny mountain village of Oregon, and the difference between the two places is as if each was on a separate planet from the other. In the past when I have made the drive, the changeover between the lush green unadulterated land and the vast spread of the concrete jungle I once called home was subtle, but this time I flew. The change was nearly instantaneous, and when I stepped out of the glass doors out of the Los Angeles airport, I was hit with a smell so thick it nearly clogged my airways, the sounds of honking, yelling, people pushing me through the crowd like herd animals as I took in my former surroundings. Was this what Los Angeles is like to visitors of the great city? I felt like an alien peeking in on a strange planet. I was being forced to view my world with renewed sight. In light of the stench in the air, the experience was quite refreshing.