2021 WINTER ISSUE | CHOICES 27
DEVELOPING NEW PERSPECTIVES BY HENRY G. NOËL
N
ew perspectives are not foreign to us. We have all experienced the need to create new perspectives. Usually, a traumatic event is the catalyst for us to question our old perspectives leading us to analyze the event from a different point of view, through self-reflection, thereby developing new perspectives: i.e., a mid-life crisis, an injury or illness, voluntary or forced professional change, and making New Year’s resolutions.
Perspective is the way one looks at something including ourselves. Since our perspectives are our reality, it is hard for us to acknowledge we learned our perspectives from those who influenced our upbringing and created our belief systems. We can argue that experience plays a major role in our perspectives, but our interpretation of our experiences are also predicated by our upbringing and belief systems. If we were to strip away the biases
taught us by others; how would that affect our perspectives? Would the color of our skin truly matter? Would nationality matter? Would one’s political party affiliation matter? Would one’s sex matter? Would one’s religion matter? The very dynamic separating humanity today into its many convoluted compartments is the result of these same perspectives. It has been said humans are inherently social creatures. Yet, the only socialization we do is based on
