Perspective Home Shalom Toolkit

Henry Good, Teen Consultant with Home Shalom

What do we see and how do we see it? Perspective is an extremely important part of life, and how we see the world. In life, perspective is all about being in the right place and the right feeling. When we approach our daily activities and duties, we must be aware to have a positive outlook and perspective. Sometimes, we wake up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning, and that can lead to poor trains of thought throughout a day. We can see that the general wrong perspective on life, generally a pessimistic and sad attitude can lead to unfortunate outcomes and life choices. With this, we must do things to ensure that our attitude and perspective towards life is good. When you wake up, text somebody “good morning!” When you go for your morning coffee, purchase one for the person behind you! Do mini mitzvah for those around you, and your perspective on life will change! Perspective is all about how you visualize the world, and if you do good things, the world will reward you with a wonderful perspective and view on life!

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Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D., Founder of Home Shalom

Two thousand years ago, the Talmudic Sage Hillel wrote “Don’t judge your neighbor until you have stood in your neighbor’s place.” This empathy challenge is found in nearly every culture in the world. Whether it be the Native Americans urging us to “walk a mile in another’s moccasins,” or Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, saying, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it,” we are reminded that our way of thinking and seeing the world is not the same for everyone. This proverb comes to life most dramatically in a remarkable exhibit inside a giant shoe box located in Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo Brazil. The exhibit is entitled, “A Mile in My Shoes,” and is Brazil’s “Empathy Museum.” It has no paintings or other works of art, only well-worn shoes and recordings of the personal stories that accompany each pair of shoes, allowing each visitor to experience walking a mile in the life of another. Judgments close down the mind, and empathy opens the heart.

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Judy Gordon, Home Shalom Consultant

My dad once told me that to be true to my friend I needed to look through their eyes. I remember being so confused. I said, “But, what if I’m right?”  

Being right is okay as long as we remember that, with some exceptions like scientific fact, right and wrong are based on our perspectives. Where do we come from? How does our culture view things? Perspective is not fact, nor is it truth. Perspective is what we feel about truth or facts.  Facts are not good or bad. They just are. Perspective is how we each see those facts affecting our lives. We choose the facts that are most important to us and they vary from person to person.  

Facts don’t change, but perspective can. I learned that looking through someone else’s eyes, or walking in someone else’s shoes may not change my perspective, but it will help me appreciate where others are coming from. And perhaps, if I truly listen and truly see, I will truly consider what they are saying, feeling and believing.

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Naomi Ackerman, Founder, The Advot Project

Perspective is Subjective Interactive Exercise

When we communicate with each other, it is important to remember that people have different perspectives and what I see as “blue” someone in a different light might see as “red.” If we don’t come into the conversation respecting different perspectives there will be no way to move forward. 

This is a great place to explore the concept of “I agree to disagree.”

Introduce:

Explain that during this exercise we are going to explore perspective.

Ask:

Can someone define the word perspective? Explain that perspective can be synonymous with point of view or viewpoint or opinion and is an individual experience.

Act:

Ask for two student volunteers.

Provide each student with a large prop phone.

Explain that they are two classmates, talking on the phone about the fact that “last night, a boy and a girl were seen leaving a party together.”

Any other scene details can be decided before as a group, or you can encourage the pair to improvise.

The two students may play two students, two boys/two girls, the opposite of their gender, the parents of the kids who left the party, etc.

Discuss:

Discuss how different each scene was and how that illustrates that perspective is subjective.

Discuss the differences when it was two boys discussing the incident versus two girls and how a parent discussion also changes things.

Bring it back to the group understanding that when they are in conflict with others, or there is confusion about details of what “went down,” it is essential to understand that every person’s perspective is subjective to their personality, experience, and viewpoint.

You can use any situation here and explore it from different peoples’ perspectives: 

Example – A snow day from school 

How would two students talk about this?

How would two parents talk about this?

How would two teachers talk about this? 

Each couple will react to the snow day differently based on their perspective.

The post phone call discussion is important to establish that sometimes people’s perspectives are different because they have a different relationship to a situation or event.  

A teaching point can be to say, “This may be true. However, I…“ and take the time to explain your perspective.