Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

At times we look

With critical eye

And ask ourselves

The question why

 

How could another

Hurt their brother

Or show a selfish

Action or wish

 

When you push

And tear apart

It brings wounds

Within my heart

 

At those times

When you ignore

It makes me want

To even the score

 

The question I ask

These judgments

Brought to task

 

is as follows

 

Could it be

That the flaw I see

Is a reflection of

That same flaw

In me

 

Is my reaction

A way of retraction

Of my own thoughts and ways

Through whom which I defray

 

It stands to reason

If there is a truth to be found

That the action and reaction

Can find satisfaction

In finding those things

We love to see

And in some way reflect

The good in you and me     

-Shiidon, Bahá 166 BE, March 2009

This thought came to me while I was driving in traffic the other day.  Why is it we are sometimes patient and sometimes not at the same thing.  Why is it that sometimes it is pointed out to us that the thing we are saying we dislike is that same thing others see in us.  We should see the positive in each other and focus on those positive attributes.  The questions of tearing apart and evening the score are not specific examples of actual feelings or events but an attempt to capture the essence of what can be found out in the world.