“Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our differences, our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them.” — Judith Henderson
Travels With Maggie
Some days I wake up eager to write on a topic that burned itself into my brain as I slept, usually because the subject was on my mind before I went to bed. I consider these good days.
On others, I wake brain-dead, wondering what in the heck I’m going to write about. This morning was one of these.
Some days, Maggie sleeps in until 10 a.m. Others, like this morning, she wakes up early and immediately demands that I take her for a walk. Yes. I know. My children already have informed me that my canine companion bosses me around.
But I welcomed her demands this morning, knowing that walks fertilize my brain. The birds clinging to a thistle finch bag feeder we passed did the rest.
I jumped to the conclusion that they were American goldfinches, which are extremely common all across the country. A closer inspection of the birds through binoculars, however, and I discovered my mistake. I was looking at lesser goldfinches, whose range rarely extends farther east than my current location in Central Texas.
The adult males of both species are brilliant yellow and black (females are duller and in the case of the lesser more green than yellow), but the lesser has a black head and back, while the American only wears a black cap and has black wings that contrast with a yellow back. Both species are beautiful birds.
And that got me thinking about the assumptions people make when confronted with differences in general. I suspect that erroneous assumptions, like my confusion as to which goldfinch I was seeing, are way too common. And just like my goldfinches, most of our assumptions usually have nothing to do with right or wrong.
One kind of beauty, one color of skin or one way of thinking may be no better or no worse than another kind of beauty, a different color of skin or a second, third or fourth way of thinking.
I suspect the world could do with fewer assumptions and more appreciation of differences. What do you think?
You see the good in many people/things. I wonder how many people even know [or care] that they are making assumptions? Many people live in a place called Oblivia. I’m glad you aren’t one of them. I know I seldom make assumptions on nature – but maybe, as you pointed out, I DO make assumptions about people at times. Thank Maggs for making you take that early walk!
Several years ago I learned that when we assume anything we make an ass out of u and me. I try to remember that and, while I’m not as good at it as I hope to become, I am better at keeping my ass in the corral with the horses where it belongs. *G* Sam
Some quotable words there, Pat!
A great post to start my day–as always!
Looking beneath assumptions is excellent advice for us all, but it’s especially good advice for writers. The easiest thing to do is to write stereotypical characters (ignorant country people). The second easiest thing to do is to turn the stereotype on its head (rocket scientist who has retired to the country and gone native). The hard thing is to dig beneath our assumptions and find the person. In writing, so in life, eh?