Vantage Point and the Enigmatic Gridiron

 

enigma - noun - a thing or person that is mysterious, puzzling or hard to understand (Google).

Often your vantage point in life can alter your perception, and ergo perspective, so as to create or resolve any enigmas you find yourself contemplating. True clarity can come when you are in certain situations, and you can actually see that they are the missing pieces to the jigsaw puzzle. In order to do this, you may have to step back and take in the whole view, which is often not easy. 

Case in point: This past weekend, my daughter cajoled me into driving six hours with her out to Pittsburgh, PA to attend a college football game between UNC, her alma mater, and Pitt at Heinz Field, where the Steelers play. Since I like football, was brought up on it, and she offered to buy the tickets, I couldn't say no. Somehow she managed to get two seats right on the fifty yard line, just behind the Gatorade and Carolina blue-and-white backs of the UNC team. In sixty-two years of attending live games (My parents used to wheel infant me to Bucknell games in a pram.), I had never occupied seats so close to the action. Previously, conversely, friends, family and I would sit in the nose-bleeds in the rows much closer to Heaven. What I discovered this time around was that being so close can radically change your viewpoint. From that angle, the coach's, I could barely discern the ball from the huddled bodies, could not perceive the plays well, and heard and felt the pain of the players on impact when tackled. Previously, conversely, from the celestial seats, I could notice and follow the ball, could watch the plays form, and could remain pleasantly ignorant of the sport's true brutality. From that height, the ball game resembled an intricately choreographed ballet. In short, the distance lent a degree of enchantment. How enigmatic of the gridiron to enlighten me as to the importance of perception and its influence on perspective!

Like most sports, football can be used as a metaphor for life. What I learned from this recent experience as a spectator is that sometimes when you are too close to something, you become immersed in self-inflicted chaos and cannot see the forest through the trees. This happens when you become so wrapped up in whatever it is that is "in your face" at present. And it could be anything or anyone. As a result, you might wind up asking questions to which there are no clear answers. The solution could be to step back (perhaps in time, if necessary) and take in the big picture that includes not only your perspective, but the viewpoints of others as well. This approach might just prevent the problem from tackling you over and over again. And who wants that? You may not be able to make it to the goal unscathed, few rarely do, but you will make it regardless, but only with a full view of the gridiron. 

#word of the day, #vocabulary, #writers, #writers and poets, #words, #inspiration, #optimism, #inspiring words, #humor, #spilled thoughts, #motivation, #inspirational thoughts, #inspiration, #inspirational words, #words of wisdom, #affirmation, #optimism, #poets and writers, #writers community, #writers, #readers #writing