Perceptions

The Dictionary defines Perceptions as: “a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.”

Everyone sees things differently. When you see a piece of chocolate cake, you might think, “Yummy.” When I see a piece of chocolate cake, I think, “Not yummy.”

There is a small stone carved Greek ship in our house, that we all look at differently.

On one trip to Greece 32 years ago, we arrived in Athens late in the afternoon in the wake of a terrific storm.

The next morning, as we walked along the stormed tossed beach, Ed saw a small carved copy of a stone Greek ship with its sails broken off among the flotsam and seaweed dredged up by the storm.

Ed insisted it was a valuable ancient relic brought up from the depths of the sea by the storm. I insisted it was no such thing; it was a simple carving made by one of the local fishermen who when he broke the sails threw it away.

Back at the hotel, Marc joined Ed proclaiming it a priceless relic. Athena, towel-drying her freshly shampooed hair and frustrated because she couldn’t use her hairdryer because the electric current was 220 not 110 volts, just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Diana, impressed with Ed and Marc’s edicts of its value, was excited to think we’d found something so valuable on our first day there. She couldn’t wait to go down to the beach and find gold coins from the Trojan War, or something like that.

“It can’t be anything valuable.” I finally stated.  “Besides, if it was, we couldn’t take it out of Greece. There are all kind of restrictions against taking ancient artifacts out of the country.” Six-months-old Bryan just gurgled, happy to be getting fed.

We enjoyed our time in Greece, meeting Lebanese refugees, a Libyan pilot, and many other interesting people. I re-read our adventures recently and laughed anew at all the games, competitions, songfests, and adventures during that trip. It reminded me of all the other times where we’ve been in strange, exotic places or just playing board games in our dining room. Wherever we were together was fun.

Some people like to travel. Others prefer to stay at home. Is one attitude better than another? Some people look at things positively, no matter how dire they may appear. Others are always watching for the fly in the soup, the tragedy lurking in every joy.

Yet how we look at things, determines how we enjoy life. “A pessimist is the only man who doesn’t choose the lesser of two evils, but both.” F. H. Bradley countered: “Optimism: the world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil.”

Is my ship a rare ancient artifact? Is it a useless broken tourist toy? Isn’t it (and life) what we make of it?