
The Most Powerful Word In The Human Vocabulary: Perspective - sthomps
http://blog.sokanu.com/the-most-powerful-word-in-the-human-vocabular
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lionhearted
I'm in Saigon right now. This morning I had breakfast with an older guy who is
working to stop trafficking and AIDS in Cambodia. Three weeks ago or so, I was
walking through the slums of Saigon - literally, no exaggerating, dangerous
very poor slums. They were past the train tracks by the canal, if you know the
city.

> Growing up in the Western world, most of us are used to the luxuries that we
> receive on a daily basis. And no matter how hard we try, we still take these
> things for granted. If we truly appreciated what we had, each and every one
> of us would wake up and start jumping up and down because we are living with
> shelter, have instant access to electricity and can eat anything we choose.

This is indeed true, but people often don't ask the question - "Why?" Or, if
they do, they come to the wrong answers. Why? Why do we have shelter,
electricity, and food? Why do we have technology and all these amazing things?

Last week, I committed to giving 10% of my income to charity henceforth
forever. I figure it's a good thing to do. I'm researching starting my own
charity, hence the discussion I had this morning. I'm aware that we're lucky.
And my question becomes - "Why?" "We're so lucky" - yes, we are. Now, let's
figure it out. "Why are we so lucky?"

I thought about this, and I looked into it.

And the answer is, we're lucky and we have all these wonderful things because
someone worked to build it. Our ancestors, our family and countrymen
typically, if you live in the Western world. By and large, everything you use,
you get to use as the result of someone's effort. I say this, because I see a
lot of charity going about things the wrong way. They give a man a fish,
instead of teaching him to fish. Whenever I see the, "We're so lucky..." line
of writing, first I completely agree and I'm so incredibly grateful for all
the amazing things we have. Second, I'm amazed at the people who built them
and sacrificed, and I want to build and sacrifice for the future. Somehow, a
lot of people feel guilty when they read something about how good they have it
- don't! Feel strong, feel good. You have these things because hard work was
paid forwards to you. Do the same for others. No guilt - guilt is crippling,
guilt ruins your thinking and emotions, guilt ruins your rationality. Feel
strong, feel proud, be grateful to the builders who came before you, and build
as well to help others. This is the way forwards.

~~~
buro9
> Last week, I committed to giving 10% of my income to charity henceforth
> forever.

I've been doing this for about 3 years now and not once have I found myself
regretting it or unable to afford anything that I want.

I was originally inspired by some Muslim co-workers who told me about the
compulsory charity that Islam prescribes for them, and the voluntary charity
that they then make on top of it. 2.5% is compulsory for all Muslims, and then
most top up to 10% as the voluntary portion is their way to give what God gave
to them and by doing so show appreciation for what they have. This happens
regardless of how much or little people earn.

Now, I am not religious by any definition, but I was embarrassed and ashamed
at how most of my friends and especially myself were not really giving much at
all. And I also felt that I could also appreciate what I have by giving some
of it away.

Somewhere in an Orwell book I recall reading a bit where Orwell tried to tip a
taxi driver a large amount. The taxi driver refused, "I will still be poor
tomorrow". That 10%, I don't need it... that alone isn't the definition of
rich that I use. Even a bonus once a year won't make me as happy as just
working on things I am interested in. So it seems clear to me that I have more
to gain by helping others less fortunate with those things than I do.

~~~
hackoder
I started doing the same as soon as I started working.

Something else that I recommend: Bump this up by 5% every few months and see
how it works out. We can often get by with so little (especially people like
me who have lived the miserly university life) and we can actually be /happy/
with it, that it just does not make sense to hold back.

I also like the idea of dedicated goals: For e.g. sponsor x children, feed x
families etc. This helps solve the problem in manageable chunks and is easier
for others to understand. (i.e. if every person helped x other people, we'd
get rid of poverty/hunger).

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greenlblue
A really long winded and melodramatic way of saying how differences make
individuals unique and special and how empathy is a good thing.

~~~
danilocampos
True enough. Yet, in the end, it's inarguable that these truths are taken for
granted. Absent the provided evidence, would we even consider them?

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COP
Very good post. It very much reminded me the leadership course I participated
this summer (<http://ssrn.com/abstract=1392406>), in which they distinguished
the difference between Transformative Learning and Informative Learning.

Informative learning adds to our current bucket of knowledge.

Transformative learning examines the buckets themselves – our worldview and
our various frames of reference relevant to this aspect or that aspect of what
we are studying.

While both learning are valuable. Maybe our current education system focus too
much on the latter. It might be good to have more Transformative Learning to
facilitate shifting of Worldview and Frames of Reference in school.

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KentHealy
Very good article. Well written. The idea is definitely one to consider when
interacting with others. Without it, common ground is hard to find. His quote,
"Every single action that you take determines your world. And that is why
perspective is so important to consider. We co-exist with billions of other
people that live in their own worlds..." is so true.

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basicxman
Whether or not the title was a good choice was merely a matter of perspective
;)

Every human being in the world should read this article; if we can all truly
comprehend this text, the world would be a better place.

~~~
sthomps
Thank you so much for those kind words, I really appreciate it.

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annajohnson
Funny, I thought I was about to get a lesson in what words I should be using
in our advertising copy. Was the most powerful word 'free' or 'you' or 'sex'
or something else? Oh, and then I re-read the article title: 'perspective' and
then the article itself. I guess I approached the article with my own very
skewed perspective...

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baddox
I think "power" has a strong case to make.

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Deskie
I know too many people who need to grasp this concept. I will be passing this
on for sure

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sz
Not exactly original, but well written.

And the choice of words in the title is irrelevant! It doesn't even make sense
to argue about the "power" of a word, without a useful definition of power. So
don't!

The discussion so far falls squarely under
<http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-i-stopped-reading-hn/>

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sahillavingia
This is going to be heavily debated, of course, but mine is: thanks.

I live for when people say thanks.

~~~
sthomps
This is a very good point. Thanks is one of the most underrated words we have.
So few people understand how much impact a simple word like that can have.

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YiddishPolice
The most powerful word in the human vocabulary is: Yes.

~~~
sthomps
Good point, I'm sure some people would argue that "no" is also pretty
powerful. We are faced with so many decisions every day that our ability to
say no is pretty important.

~~~
tung
_Anybody can say "yes". Somebody needs to say "no"._ \-- Linus Torvalds

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