The Gift of Perspective

Celebrating the 12 days of Christmas
with short reflections on 12 gifts

People seem most eager to give us the gift of perspective right after life has given us something lousy, when things are going for fooey.

Nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all. Lord Balfour

Don’t take life so serious, son. It ain’t nohow permanent. Pogo

Less common is the counsel of perspective in both good times and bad:

This too shall pass. Various folkloric attributions

Nothing is all good or all bad. The Big Guy

Perspective offered up by other people is ‘more socks than chocolate’: valued more in the giving than the receiving. Go figure. May we find ways, then, to gift ourselves.

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2 Responses to The Gift of Perspective

  1. Jim taylor says:

    Ah, yes, Pogo…. How come it was the right-wing cartoonists like Walt Kelly and Al Capp who managed to create such endearing and insightful comic strips? If the left wing fails, it’s probably because they keep turning out prose as turgid as Das Kapital.

    Jim

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Jim – Well, it likely isn’t entirely fair to compare a cartoonist to a (slightly whacko) philosopher for entertainment value. Doonesbury can be quite funny. Not as sure about endearing….

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