#29 Perspectives

“Compassion does not just happen. Pity does, but compassion is not pity. It’s not a feeling. Compassion is a viewpoint, a way of life, a perspective, a habit that becomes a discipline – and more than anything else, compassion is a choice we make that love is more important than comfort or convenience.” – Glennon Doyle Melton

April 29, 2025

Perspective grants us the rare gift of stepping back, of finding a stillness from which to observe. It pulls us from the familiar comfort zone where everything seems fixed and known, offering a different point of view, a chance to see objectively what was once clouded by emotion or proximity. From this new angle, the light falls differently, revealing nuances previously missed, catching the edges of things that lingered just out of the periphery, things that weren’t quite what they appeared.

This shift illuminates what was overlooked-the quiet, steady presence easily drowned out by louder events, the subtle gestures that held more weight than grand pronouncements. It allows light to shine on details that were unnoticed simply because our gaze was fixed elsewhere. But lives are rarely so simple. There are always shadows that slip between the cracks, things unspoken or deliberately hidden, energies that linger in the background-subtle, sometimes unsettling, rarely named. We move among others, convinced we know them, yet we are often blind to the secrets they keep, or the truths they shield even from themselves.

Time, too, shapes this seeing, layering meanings over moments until the simplest memory becomes a complex tapestry. Every life leaves its imprint, sometimes in bold strokes, other times in faint traces only visible when the light is just right, when the angle allows us to glimpse the hidden contours.

Sometimes, it takes another voice to reveal the hidden contours of a life. Sometimes, the story you thought you knew is only the beginning.

Photo by https://unsplash.com/@neilmewes