Perspective

Have you ever noticed that most battles are won or lost within the confines of our own two ears? Our thoughts literally make us or break us. A good friend of mine used to say that "Perception is reality." Why is it that some people go through life ranting about all of the injustices that life is heaping on them while others quietly face their challenges with dignity and optimism?It brings to mind the old adage, "Is the glass half empty or half full?"

Years ago when I was a young college student, I attended the most culturally diverse university in the United States, Brigham Young University in Hawaii. At the time, there were about two thousand students comprised of over fifty different countries. Today, there are over seventy countries represented in a student body population of twenty four hundred. Anyone who has ever lived in Hawaii knows that it's one of the most expensive places on earth to live--paradise has its price. The dorm rooms, or hales as they are called, are tiny, cinder block rooms with the bare basics. Each room houses two students. I had been at BYUH for about a week when I met a girl who told me this story.

"When I got to BYUH, I couldn't believe how small my dorm room was. And then I realized that I had to share it with another person! I couldn't help it. I just sat down on that dingy mattress and cried when I saw it. My walk-in closet back home was bigger than this for goodness sakes. A couple of days later, I met a girl from the Philippines. We started comparing notes about our dorm rooms. I felt a little vindicated when she told me that she too had cried when she saw her room. Then she told me why. She just couldn't believe that she had such a nice, big room and that she only had to share it with one person. Her whole family lived in a place that was about the size of her dorm room."

I never again heard my friend complain about her room. A clear perspective--it makes all the difference!