I’ve had my rejections in life, as most people have experienced. It’s easy to take some comfort by putting the loss of a connection with me on the shoulders of the other.

I drew a witch when I was about 8. Have faith. I’ll join the dots.

The theme for this particular Saturday art class for young people was to use the theme of Halloween. I thought that sounded like fun, and I plunged in with a thoughtfully selected construction paper of solid black. What could possibly go wrong?

I started the draw with a witch’s pointed hat towards the top centre of the page. Done.

Then I started filling in some houses, people and a street light in the bottom half. Then came my piece-de-resistance. I put the broom just above in the centre of the paper.

Now I drew the witch, riding on the broom. I was just about finished when I realized the head and the hat were several inches apart. There was no time to start over. I couldn’t erase it. The undo button hadn’t been invented yet. The class was just about over.

I decided to add some indication of a strong wind blowing that the viewer would understand had blown the hat off of the witch.

My mother came to pick me up for the walk home. I proudly showed off my creation, including the action interpretation.

“Oh, you’re so creative,” she said.

 “Yes, I am.” I glowed.

I’ve kept that picture over the years, although I can’t swear I could find it. Sometimes, the thing I look at, made, or otherwise had on hand is OK, not because it is but because of the perspective used to understand it.

A quick aside. Think of two people looking at a large drawing of a number – one standing at the top and the other at the bottom. “It’s a 6, not a 9.” A simple underscore, 6, would have prepared each for the ‘correct’ perspective.

Of course, they are both right based on their perspective.

So, I don’t accept rejection from others very well. First, I consider the possibilities of perspective. It doesn’t always work, nor should it. But it sure has helped me over the years.

Please give this a bit of a think. When did you experience rejection or negative response and thought, “they just don’t get it, do they?”

If you had a mulligan, do-over, could you have set the stage differently so the other person might be open to a different POV? Think ahead to something that others might give their opinion about. Can you help them to ‘get it’ better?

I’m curious about your thoughts. Please leave your comment. And please give a bit of a think about passing the link to this Blog to someone you think might also enjoy it.

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Photo by Matteo Kutufa on Unsplash

And my thanks to St. Albert Seniors Association: 780-459-0433 for making this Blog possible.

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