Saturday, May 3, 2008 ; 2:52 AM
I'd like to share more about paradigms.
What's a Paradigm?
A paradigm is your perception, POV, or the way you see the world. This is a story of a man named Kameron,Kameron once worked hard for several weeks building a wall made of railroad ties in his backyard. When he was almost finished, his neighbor regretfully asked Kameron if he could please take out the railroad ties and use rocks instead. She simply explained that her husband didn’t want to look at a railroad tie wall for the rest of his life. Kameron’s work mates couldn’t believe the nerve of this neighbor to ask such a thing when the wall was almost finished. Although Kameron didn’t fully understand her reasoning, he knew they’d be neighbors for a long time, and, although it cost him another week of extra work, he did what she requested and replaced the railroad ties with rocks.
The next week, Kam’s neighbor came over and expressed appreciation for rebuilding the wall for her husband’s sake. “You see,” she explained, “he’d never tell you this, but when my husband was a teenager, he was imprisoned in a labor camp for eighteen months in Germany after the war. During all those months he had to carry railroad ties, and, to this day, he gets sick to his stomach when he even looks at one.”
Can you see how a little understanding immediately changed Kameron’s perception? His anger turned to compassion in an instant. That’s called a paradigm shift. Sometimes our paradigms or perceptions are way off and need to be fixed. That’s why we shouldn’t judge other people. We seldom know the whole story.
We do make mistakes during our Teen years, face many struggles, and have many highs and lows. No one expects you to be perfect. But PLEASE don't make it harder than it has to be. I like what the poet Robert Frost had to say about the importance of decisions."Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
