Where Are YOU?

Perspective, they say, is everything.  Where you are, physically and metaphorically, depends not just on where you THINK you are, but where others place you, where they think THEY are and where each of you has been before that moment.

Such thoughts are why there are no rich philosophers. Surely no one would pay for such hooey!

The problem of finding one another is, though, real, deep and important.

And, where you are depends even more on the means by which the answer is conveyed…  If the two people involved cannot see each other, answers may ricochet around creating even more confusion. 

It makes a world of difference if you can see each other. 

This is true for announcers on TV who speak into a void to an unseen and unseeing audience. It applies to writers who can only imagine most of their readers. And it is true of anyone who has ever sat in a meeting and tried to gauge whether their comment had an impact – and whether that impact would help or hinder their career.

It is, though, truest of all at home. “Honey, where are you?” isn’t usually a request for your GPS coordinates; it’s often a call for assistance, companionship or perhaps simply reassurance.

Here is wherever you ARE. THERE is wherever the other person is. 

The best form of communication is an open, two-way street in full daylight.

Even more important than where one is physically is where he/she is psychologically. Openness to hear the other person makes hearing much clearer and understandable. 

That is perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned in 70 years of marriage!