Full disclosure: I am a driver! I obtained my driver’s license on my sixteenth birthday and have been driving ever since. Initially it was whenever I could talk my Mom into handing over her car keys, which she didn’t do too readily. My dad had a car, but it was provided by his work so that wasn’t an option. Eventually as I moseyed into adulthood, like many of us, I snagged a used car and was on my way. To this day, I am still a driver. I prefer to drive and Jerry doesn’t mind one way or another. Locally, I do all the driving. When we take long road trips, for example to Minneapolis, we switch drivers along the way.
What you discover when you drive a car or are a passenger in the car is that there are very different perspectives depending on whether you are the driver or the passenger.
When I am driving on a highway on a long road trip and am going 75 miles per hour, it doesn’t seem fast to me. If Jerry or another driver goes 75 miles per hour and I am in the passenger seat, it seems too fast. When I am in the passenger seat and the driver is going 75 miles, I get anxious. I don’t get anxious when I am driving 75 miles per hour on the highway. Perspective!
It’s all about perspective. Here is what we know about perspective:
What we perceive is true, is true in its consequences.
If I perceive an electric traffic signal to be green when in fact it is red, I risk serious injury to myself or others.
Shifting from the car context, if I perceive I have more money in my checking account than I in fact do, I can go into debt rather quickly. On the other hand, if I perceive that I do not have enough money in my checking account, when in fact I do, I can begin cutting back on basic needs such as medicines and quality food. This sometimes happens to older people who live alone or isolated with no one to assist them regarding their finances.
Another dimension of perspective is age.
Our perspective can be quite different in our younger years, middle years, and older years. In our younger years we might be like Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh stories, bouncing here, bouncing there; so busy bouncing that our perspectives tend to be fluid. Not a whole lot of reflection. We may just fall into the “trendy” perspectives regarding clothes, music, social life.
On the other hand, Tigger’s friend, Eyeore, in terms of perspective is “woe is me.” Eyeore tends towards a consistent negative perspective. For Eyeore the glass is always half empty.
At a personal level we can live our entire life perceiving the glass is half empty or the glass is half full. We will miss some things along the way, but life will go on around us.
However, at the collective level, and as a country, when a significant number of us hold on to and espouse misperceptions there are serious consequences for us as individuals, for defined groups, and for our country as a whole.
Currently as we are driving into 2026 in the USA, misperceptions abound.
These misperceptions center around race, ethnicity, neighborhoods, money, education, religion, cars we drive, clothes we wear, the list goes on.
These misperceptions are often harmful and erroneous. Asians, Jewish people, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinas, the elderly, the homeless, the list goes on of people being misperceived.
It is incumbent upon all of us to be responsible adults who do not judge “every book by its cover” or every person by their outward appearance, where they live, or something as superficial as the car they drive or their style of dressing.
It is so easy to just toss people into some misperceptive category and get on with our limited world views. For me personally, it has taken an effort of energy over the years to keep my perception polished, broadening, and ever-emerging. It takes time to meet people who are different than I am, who may have different beliefs, different ways of talking, different perspectives than mine, but when I make the effort to be a bit more open-minded I expand my perspective and am the better for it.
When I was in my late 20s I can remember the older generation struggling with the “hippie” look. I was not a hippie, not even close, but I wasn’t put off by that style. A decade or so ago it stretched me a bit to get use to the nose rings, dyed hair, and multiple tattoos. Once I began to know individuals who were quite comfortable with their nose rings or their brow rings, others with their creative tattoos, I just moved on and it no longer distracts me from seeing the whole person.
As adults, it is incumbent upon all of us to review our perspectives from time to time to assure that we don’t fall into the rabbit hole of a limited view and perspective. The more we reach out to meet others who we perceive as “different,” the richer our lives will be.
As we drive into 2026, our resolution is twofold: reflect on misperceptions that I personally still embrace, secondly, be alert and vocal about misperceptions that are being foisted upon us.
Let me close with my most recent Chinese fortune cookie:
“May your life be a beautiful mosaic of love, language, and blessings.”
Bridget
The Annunciation Blog 