Point of View: Difference in Opinion or Angle?

Your “point of view” isn’t always an opinion.

I’m 5-feet, 5.5-inches tall. My great grandmother on my mom’s side was maybe 5 feet tall. Her daughter, my grandmother, was born in 1912 and was 5 feet, 8 inches, very tall for her generation. My mother was 5 feet, 8 inches; my oldest daughter is 5 feet, 8 inches and my youngest daughter is 5 feet, 6 inches tall. I found out on the internet that the average height for women in America is only 5 feet, 3 inches!

My grandfather was 6 feet, 4 inches; my husband is 5 feet, 9.75 inches, and our son is 6 feet, 3 inches. Okay, enough statistics.

We have double glass patio doors into our back yard. We have bird baths and feeders as well as some trees and a garden beyond the trees.

Our breakfast table looks out those doors and we enjoy the wildlife.

Sitting at the breakfast table, or on the back porch watching the birds or squirrels, what two people see are at different angles. Even when sitting side by side, the same tree blocks the view of each of us and keeps us from seeing the same thing.

“See the dove?” “No, I see a grackle, where’s the dove?”

“Just on the left side of the bird bath.”

“I can’t see the bird bath!” I was in a craft store in line to check out. The women in front of me were having a discussion with the cashier about an item they were purchasing and the difference between the advertised price and the price that the register had applied.

The cashier was about my height, the customer was a very tall woman, maybe even taller than 5 feet, 8 inches. The customer told the cashier that another employee had assured her the sale price would be honored at checkout.

The cashier asked the customer to describe that employee and asked, “Was he tall or short?”

The customer said, “Oh, he wasn’t too tall.”

What does a woman who’s at least 5 feet, 8 inches consider tall? Probably someone who is definitely taller than she is.

The cashier was at a loss. Neither the cashier nor the customer had been clear about the information needed. But I realized that the customer’s height gave her a different point of view compared to the shorter cashier.

Sometimes, if you have a different point of view, stop and think: is it a difference of opinion, or are you looking at the same thing from a slightly different height or angle?