Perspective means mental view or outlook which every persons has according to his position and mindset. We perceive things in their interrelations or comparative importance but everyone has a different perspective like the commonly used example of a half glass of water. We all know depending on our state of mind most us may find it half empty!
We like to see and judge things and people differently. When I go for walk in the evenings we, me and a friend, pass a couple walking on the same path everyday. They must be in their 60s and holding hands walking they seem like enjoying life as well as each others company. This was my perspective but my friends on looking at them everyday repeats the same sentence ” Hai bechari ko pata nahin kia bemaari hai!”. I wonder when I get the impression they have the blessing of each others’ presence and are healthy enough to walk and above all they share the same interest. What makes her think she is in some sort of trouble! 
I am sharing an interesting story with you where two people looking at the same thing draw opposite conclusions.
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Oh yeah,” said the son.
“So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”
Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing?
no doubt its a wonderful thing….alot depends on how and what we think
Hi! I like your srticle and I would like very much to read some more information on this issue. Will you post some more?
Thanks for the perspective but I can’t help but notice the underlying messages in this story. It associates city life with money, possessions and shallowness while depicting country life as being the opposite. It grossly generalises city people as being shallow, anti-environment, anti-family and anti-animals. Inhumane second class citizens with little regard for anything deeper than their earthly possessions.
When reading innocent tales full of loaded underlying messages like the one below please remember to think about the message(s). If you don’t, it could lead your thought patterns into dangerous territory – the life of a human that discriminate or alienate others or someone that retract from other humans because they are different or they aren’t the same nationality or race. Even worse, you could become a person that remove yourself from society altogether. Someone that live only for themselves and try to avoid anything and everything that doesn’t comply with their idea of what the world should be.
Coming back to the tale, in my experience it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, city or country, the one always has something the other envies or despises – and rightfully so. None of the things mentioned in the story is necessarily unique to the country or the city – We Create Our Own Reality.
The only part I agree with in the story is the last two lines. We should count each and every one of our blessings but can we please spread the word without the propaganda.
B. Free
We tend to associate certain traits with the people living in the cities but I think you rightly pointed out that human beings can be materialistic or mean any where in the world….