Perception on Perception

What a wonderful post. It changed my perception on perception

A teacher teaching Maths to a six-year-old asked him, 

“If I give you one apple and one apple & one apple, how many apples will you have?”

With a few seconds the boy replied confidently, “Four!”

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three).

She was disappointed. “May be the child did not listen properly,” she thought.

She repeated, “please listen carefully. It is very simple. You will be able to do it right if you listen carefully."

"If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?”

The boy had seen the disappointment on his teacher’s face.

He calculated again on his fingers.

But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make his teacher happy.

This time hesitatingly he replied, “Four...”

The disappointment stayed on teacher’s face.

She remembered that the boy loves strawberries.

She thought maybe he doesn’t like apples and that is making him lose focus.

This time with exaggerated excitement & twinkling eyes she asked ...

“If I give you one strawberry & one strawberry & one strawberry, then how many will you have?”

Seeing the teacher happy, the young boy calculated on his fingers again.

There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher.

She wanted her new approach to succeed.

With a hesitating smile, the young boy replied, “Three?”

The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had succeeded.

She wanted to congratulate herself.

But one last thing remained.

Once again she asked him,
“Now if I give you one apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?”

Promptly the answer was “Four!”

The teacher was aghast.

“How.... tell me, How?” she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.

In a voice that was low and hesitating young boy replied,
“Because I already have one apple in my bag.”

Lessons to Learn: When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you are expecting, it is not necessarily they are wrong.

There may be an angle that we may not have understood at all.

We need to learn to appreciate and understand different perspectives.

Quite often, we try and impose our perspectives on others and then wonder what went wrong.

The next time someone gives you a different perspective than yours, sit down and gently ask
"Can you please help me understand"?......

It's Our Culture

Strange things we do in the name of Culture

1. We care more for the dead than we do for the living!

2. We spend more to bury a person than we do to save their life.

3. We will not travel to go and see a sick relative but will travel to bury him /her

4. People will rarely respect you while alive but will want to "pay their last respects" when you are in your casket.

5. A person may NEVER receive roses in their entire life but they will get lots dumped on their graveyard!

6. We will spend a night at a neighbour's funeral and it will be our first time to see the inside of their house!

7. No one gives a damn to know where you live until you die and they will all fill car after car to "escort" your corpse

8. We will take the dead to the church knowing fully well they had nothing to do with worship while they were alive.

9. We might not have granite tops in our kitchens but use the granite in the graveyard!

10. In some homes there might not have tiled floors but the only place with expensive tiles will be a graveyard!

It is proposed we have "Cultural Reforms"  but we have a culture of "hypocrisy"...
a culture that is "Pro-death" and NOT "Pro-life!"*
We need to value life BEFORE death.

THE WORLD IS MINE

Today, upon a bus, I saw a very beautiful woman

      and wished I were as beautiful.

      When suddenly she rose to leave,

      I saw her hobble down the aisle.

      She had one leg and used a crutch.

      But as she passed, she passed a smile.

      Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

      I have two legs; the world is mine.

 

      I stopped to buy some candy.

      The lad who sold it had such charm.

      I talked with him, he seemed so glad.

      If I were late, it'd do no harm.

      And as I left, he said to me,

      "I thank you, you've been so kind.

      It's nice to talk with folks like you.

      You see," he said, "I'm blind."

      Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

      I have two eyes; the world is mine.

                                                                                          Later while walking down the street,

      I saw a child I knew.

      He stood and watched the others play,

      but he did not know what to do.

      I stopped a moment and then I said,

      Why don't you join them dear?"

      He looked ahead without a word.

      I forgot, he couldn't hear.

      Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

      I have two ears; the world is mine.

 

      With feet to take me where I'd go, 

      With eyes to see the sunset's glow, 

      With ears to hear what I'd know, 

      Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

      I've been blessed indeed, the world is mine.

This is a beautiful and touching story of love and perseverance. At the prodding of my friends I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Honor and I am a former elementary school music teacher I have always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons - something I have done for over 30 years. During those years I found that children have many levels of musical ability, and even though I have never had the pleasure of having a prodigy, I have taught some very talented students. However, I have also had my share of what I call 'musically challenged' pupils - one such pupil being Robby.. Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him as a student. Well, Robby began his piano lessons and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary piano pieces that I require all my students to learn. Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each weekly lesson he would always say 'My mom's going to hear me play someday'. But to me, it seemed hopeless, he just did not have any inborn ability. I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled, but never dropped in. Then one day Robby stopped coming for his lessons. I thought about calling him, but assumed that because of his lack of ability he had decided to pursue something else. I was also glad that he had stopped coming - he was a bad advertisement for my teaching! Several weeks later I mailed a flyer recital to the students' homes. To my surprise, Robby (who had received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and that because he had dropped out, he really did not qualify. He told me that his mother had been sick and unable to take him to his piano lessons, but that he had been practicing. 'Please Miss Honor, I've just got to play' he insisted. I don't know what led me to allow him to play in the recital - perhaps it was his insistence or maybe something inside of me saying that it would be all right. The night of the recital came and the high school gymnasium was packed with parents, relatives and friends. I put Robby last in the program, just before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he might do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my 'curtain closer'. Well, the recital went off without a hitch, the students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on the stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked as though he had run an egg beater through it. 'Why wasn't he dressed up like the other students?'  I thought. 'Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?' Robby pulled out the piano bench, and I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen to play Mozart's Concerto No. 21 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo, from allegro to virtuoso; his suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by anyone his age. After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo, and everyone was on their feet in wild applause! Overcome and in tears, I ran up onstage and put my arms around Robby in joy. 'I have never heard you play like that Robby, how did you do it? 'Through the microphone Robby explained: 'Well, Miss Honor .... remember I told you that my mom was sick? Well, she actually had cancer and passed away this morning. And well ...... she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she had ever heard me play, and I wanted to make it special.' There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy. I thought to myself then how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. No, I have never had a prodigy, but that night I became a prodigy ....... of Robby. He was the teacher and I was the pupil, for he had taught me the meaning of perseverance and love, of respect and believing in yourself, and may be even taking a chance on someone and you didn't know why. Robby was killed years later in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P.  Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April, 1995. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice Do we act with compassion or do we pass up that opportunity and leave the world a bit colder in the process? May God Bless you today, tomorrow and always. If God didn't have a purpose for us, we wouldn't be here!