As Finn and Leon were walking on the sidewalk, they passed a garbage can. Finn asked Leon what it was and Leon said, “it’s for putting garbage in”. Finn thought about that for a minute and asked, “how do you know if the stuff is garbage and should go in the box?” Leon told him that garbage is stuff you throw away so someone else can take care of it. “OK”, said Finn.
As Finn and Leon continued walking on the sidewalk, they passed a charity donation box. Finn asked Leon what it was and Leon said, “it’s for putting donations in.” Finn thought about that for a minute and asked, “how do you know if the stuff is a charity donation and should go in the box?” Leon told him that charity donations is stuff that you should donate so someone else can have it. “OK”, said Finn. But this was starting to get confusing.
As Finn and Leon still continued walking on the sidewalk, they passed a mailbox. Finn asked Leon what it was and Leon said, “it’s for putting stuff like mail in.” Finn thought about that for a minute and asked, “how do you know if the stuff is mail and should go in the box?” Leon told him that mail is stuff that you should send to someone else so they can have it.” “OK”, said Finn. But now he was really confused. He couldn’t figure out what the difference was among garbage, donations and mail. “It seems like it’s all the same” said Finn.
Leon didn’t know exactly what to tell Finn to clear up the confusion. But a nice passerby said, “It all depends on your perspective. Some people throw stuff away that should be donated. Some people donate stuff that should be thrown away. And a lot of stuff gets mailed that is just plain junk.”
Finn still didn’t have a clue. But they thanked the nice passerby and kept on walking. While they were walking, Leon wondered if he had a perspective. “How would I know if I have a perspective?”, he asked “And if I have one, could I only have one, or could I have more than one?” Finn just wanted to know if perspectives were contagious because it sounded to him like a perspective affected what you did with stuff.
