Perspective

Have you ever seen an object, that because there was nothing nearby to compare it with, you couldn't tell if the object was large or small, or close or far? But when you have something to compare it with, you gain perspective, or insight into the object...

For example, this is a photo of the target I shot when I qualified with the M14 in the Navy.

The writing at the top indicates that all 30 rounds hit inside the human silhouette. And if you had a calibrated eye, you could determine by the size of the holes on the paper, just how significant this score was. But going by size perspective, it looks like a pretty lousy scatter pattern.

However, once I place a 25cent piece on the target, maybe now you can see that this target is only shaped like a man, but is actually the size of a piece of notebook paper. The lesson here is much more than how good of a shot I am. It has to do with the trials in my life. Some days I feel like  everything is just too much to handle. The constant pain in my neck and back,  the endless reminder that I may never walk again, the ongoing need for assistance just to perform daily tasks that I used to take for granted. 

Things like;

Putting on my clothes. Holding a spoon to feed myself. Opening a bag of gummy bears. Picking up and holding a telephone. Washing my hands. Reaching the sink. Tossing a tissue into the trash can. Cleaning my glasses. Taking money out of my shirt pocket to pay for french fries. Opening a screw off lid on a bottle of Mt. Dew. Lean over and pick up the pencil I just dropped on the floor. Punching out a loud mouth in a bar. Punching a time clock. Ripping off my shirt like Hulk Hogan. Drop to my knees and ask for forgiveness...The list of things I can't do, seems like a very long list indeed, but only when I compare them to the list of my capabilities prior to 2006.

But when I put it into a perspective of what I wasn't able to do, just last year, I'm practically golden. Four years ago, I couldn't reach up and scratch my own nose. Maybe I have to have the cashier open my Mt. Dew, but at least I can hold it in either hand now, and drink it without getting wet. I can't run like the wind any more, but I put 38 miles on my wheelchair in the last 3 weeks. And I have had a chance to meet some very amazing people along this path. People I would never have met any other way. From wounded marines just out of highschool, to retired generals with decades of war stories to tell. Young army privates, with that lost and confused look still wearing the dog-tags issued in bootcamp to grizzled old field sargents who did tunnel rat duty in Viet Nam. Some in wheelchairs like me, others still physically fit to serve, men with minds so twisted by what they beheld in combat, that they are practically in a zombie world, While others are so sharp and witty, you'd never believe they ever ever walked a battlefield, much less shot at another human being.

Some days I feel pretty crappy about where I am and what I'm currently going through. But when I take the time to put it in perspective, then it doesn't seem so bad.

RIGHT NOW I'M LEAVING TO GO WATCH THE NEW

3 STOOGES MOVIE

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