I Never Met...

Yesterday must have been the day to find things of interest in the performing arts. I had a CD of the Broadway show, "The Will Rogers Follies" playing in the truck all day and in the evening, I watched a PBS presentation of the musical, "Tales of the South Pacific" broadcast from the Columbia Center. I'll blog about "running" next time. For now, I'm going to say just a bit about Will Rogers. Will Rogers (1879 - 1935) was a man of many facets: stage performer, movie actor, author, philosopher, political analyst, and, perhaps most importantly, good will ambassador. He was born in Oklahoma to parents who could claim the Cherokee Indians as a part of their heritage (Maybe these were Cherokees who once had roots in North Carolina. I would like to think so anyway.) Even today, Will Rogers is often quoted. "I never met a man I didn't like," is perhaps one of the most famous of the quotes and, to all appearances, seems to have been mostly true. The person playing him in the "Follies" explains to us where that attitude comes from. Will explains that, when an Indian travels, he is always looking behind himself. Not only does this give the Indian an idea of what markers to look for on the way home, it gives him an entirely different view of the things happening around him. The white man, on the other hand, only looks straight ahead and assumes that everything he passes looks the same from any angle. Will goes on to say that his parents taught him that you must not dislike any man if you have only had a front view of him. You must walk around behind him and look past him to see what he is seeing. Everything about his world is colored by his view of life and, until you have taken the same view, you have no right to dislike him as a person. You may find that there are very good reasons for the type of person that you are standing with. This might give you a chance to help change the view or change the attitude created by the view. At the very least, you will better understand. The way that Will explains it sounds much better to me than just "walk a mile in his shoes," but that is exactly what Will is saying. It is not an easy thing to remember to do. Often our view isn't all that much to be looking at either. Often we are tired or busy or sick and we just don't want to make the effort. Two lessons come from this: try to always appreciate the other man's view and try to remember that someone may be making the effort to look over your shoulder at your view. Be ready to give and accept help whenever the opportunities come. God is good.