A Different View

I remember once a long time ago looking out a window and commenting on the nice view.  My partner at dinner said, “what view – the rusty old barges in the water?” I looked at what he meant and then I did see the rusty old things.  Until then I had not noticed them. I had looked beyond them, out to the water, the lights, the stars.  Each of us had seen a different view.

During that particular time in my life, I chose to see, or actually I just naturally saw, the beauty of the world – the water, the lights, the stars.  People told me that I did not see the real world, that I saw life through rose colored glasses, that I was naïve.  To others it may have seemed that way.  That I chose to ignore the challenges that were right in front of me; however, that was not true.  Like everyone, I had problems that came into my life, plenty of problems, and I had to face them and deal with them. But I also made an effort to focus on the good in the world and the good in people. Life seemed to work better for me when I did this.

Well, life caught up to me and I became less naïve and more of a realist.  I was less able to see the lights and the stars and started to see more of the rusty old barges in the water. As time went on and I grew older (not necessarily wiser) it seemed harder to see the beauty of world around me and easier to see the sometimes ugly realities of life.  Some may say it is better to see life this way.  Some may say it is best not to see the world through “rose colored glasses.”

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