My EyesQuestion: Do you think it’s possible to ever truly see the world from another person’s perspective?

I’ve been thinking about this question ever since I originally signed up for the February NaBloPoMo challenge.  My first thought was “no”.  No matter how closely your experiences match that of another, it will never be exactly the same.  My concern with that answer is that it will lead to excuses for not even trying to understand another’s perspective, because it’s not possible to truly understand.  I don’t want that.   Because while I feel we may not be able to truly understand, we can understand their perspective better than we often do.

We may not be able to truly understand another’s perspective.  But we can put forth an effort to understand.  To reach out and to learn.  Plus our understanding of their perspective deepen.  The truth is that we don’t need to truly understand their perspective to show more empathy.  We just need to make an effort to understand.

I fear that right now, we are making too little effort to even try to understand.  We don’t want to know why those who disagree with us feel the way they do.  It is so much easier to demonize than to understand.  But it’s not leading us to a better place.  Rather, we are being led down the wrong path.

Maybe what we need to do is not worry so much about what we cannot do and focus more on what we can accomplish.  We may not be able to completely understand another’s perspective, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand it better.  If we started making a sincere effort to understand each other, what amazing changed could occur.  That doesn’t have to mean agreement or support, just understanding a bit better than we do now.  Maybe we can really begin to see a change in the way we treat each other.  A change in the way we work together.  Wouldn’t these changes make the attempt to understand another’s perspective worth it?  I think I could really enjoy living in that world.  What do you think?