"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity." - Albert Einstein
We'd been without a helper for a month.....and it felt like a decade. In essence, this piece is about this: Your views....perspective on things are shaped by your experiences....in comparison to what's around you.
To that salaryman, for example, living in Yuzawa, Japan, having a helper is just the way it is and doesn't think much of it.
Another way to look at it is this: A person in Peshawar feels he's poor because he hasn't been able to eat in three days....while a person in Fayette, Mississippi feels exactly the same because he doesn't have enough to pay for his cable bill.
Closer to home, I'd shared among some of you what I'd heard during a recent barangay meeting in our village about the opening up of a new gate leading to the outside - to ease the horrible traffic congestion during rush hour. Here are gems:
- From a retired, chauffer-driven woman who, obviously, doesn't go out much: "I don't understand what this is all about. There's no traffic...." Like I said, "views...perspectives....shaped by experiences."
- Another beauty: "You know, the other barangay administration was better. They didn't do anything - so, they were not corrupt." I don't even know how to comment on such a self-defeating statement.
To the younger, working people in the crowd, the gates had to be opened.....while the retired ones who had nothing to do wanted the status quo.
I think one of the more revolutionary insights I've learned is the idea of things being all relative. It's what's made me sensitive to what I say and do - witness Binay claiming to be poor...."Yes, Jej, I'm sure you're poorer than the politicians attacking you, but, please compare yourself to the 99.9% of us."
Written November 9, 2014
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