Perspective--Elias

 

Once upon a time. We’ve heard these four words hundreds of times, from the nursery

stories and fairytales that we hold so dear to our hearts. The Three Little Pigs, Snow White, and

even Batman, from our perspective we have seen as the good guys always prevail and defeat the

evil villains whilst overcoming their own obstacles. But the idea of good and evil is not rooted in

solid fact. What we believe is good and what we believe is evil is rooted based on our own moral

compass, our own perspective on things. In our world there are precisely 7.888 billion people

with 7.888 billion unique perspectives. Perspective is a little more complicated than just the

dictionary definition of “the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed,”

there are many factors, changes, and details we must take into account to come up with our own

view on things. Even the slightest changes such as the restructuring of a sentence or the

exchange of some words may cause one's perspective to change entirely.

Some people see the Big Bad Wolf as the big bad bully who blew the poor little pigs

houses to bits and pieces but, in reality he was just a safety inspector doing his job. Without the

Big Bad Wolf’s huffing and puffing, the ignorant pigs with their unbound engineering prowess

who decided to build their foundation with straw and sticks may have suffered an even worse

fate than simply having their houses destroyed. An earthquake, a fire, a flood, a swift gust of

fontana wind, any natural disasters could’ve taken down their two houses with them in it causing

multiple casualties. The Big Bad Wolf simply pointed out the flaws in the pig’s designs thus

saving them from severe future expenses, potential injuries, and other problems. But in the

beloved fairy tale, we’ve come to perceive the Wolf as the bad guy who preyed on the three

helpless little pigs. All because some words were switched and some minute details were left out,

one may now interpret a varying perspective on the same situation.

Take Batman for example, the masked vigilante that is seen as the world’s greatest

superhero, an inspiration to the hopeless and an enforcer on the wicked. However, in reality, if I

were to say that I’m gonna go to Party City and buy a costume so I can stay up all night beating

up bad guys, the police would show up at my door and escort me to the nearest insane asylum.

But Batman is praised as a man of the people, when he should in fact be in therapy, a lot of

therapy. He’s simply avoiding the traumas of his past by using his billions of dollars not for

philanthropy, but rather by investing it into illegal military grade weapons and unnecessary

upgrades on his car. What's even worse is he has put multiple children in danger, perpetuating his

violent cycle, by encouraging mere prepubescent teens to come and fight supervillains with him.

Not only avoiding his own past trauma, but also putting everyone around him in danger, all while

he wastes away money that could go to better use rather than endorsing his vigilantism. But

because he locks up villains that eventually break out in two to three business days, he is praised

as the defender of the night and savior of the city. Perspective is a powerful tool, one that can

either make or break someone's argument entirely. Perspective is an accumulation of one’s

feelings, thoughts, and interactions, and can be molded to accommodate any person’s argument.

My little cousin views Snow White as some fair and innocent princess who gathers the

help of seven dwarfs to escape her evil stepmother, while I see her as a tyrannical royal who used

her vanity to enslave seven physically handicapped individuals for her own selfish endeavors.

That is because we are two different people, each with our unique past and circumstances.

Different experiences, new information, and changes in our lives are all things that contribute to

this. A couple changes here and there and all of a sudden, the thoughts and feelings we have

towards a subject have now changed entirely. We as a society have established standards,

creating these ideas such as good and evil to guide others into thinking the same as we do. But in

reality, perspective is ever changing. Heroes and villains, good and evil, right and wrong, all of

these are simply figment concepts that are not set in stone. Perspective is at its core, a tool, one

that can be shifted to support any argument. It is up to you to choose how you will use it.

Sources

Wikipedia Contributors. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 Film).” Wikipedia,

Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film).

Wikipedia Contributors. “Batman.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman.

Steel, Flora Annie. “The Three Little Pigs.” Americanliterature.com, 2019,

americanliterature.com/childrens-stories/the-three-little-pigs.

Merriam-Webster. “Definition of PERSPECTIVE.” Merriam-Webster.com, 2019,

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perspective.