Perspective. What really determines how we see/veiw things, conditions and situations around us? Is it your education level? Level of exposure? intelligence? Natural good old fashioned wit? Other peoples opinions? What is it really shade shapes our minds to interpret information. During my architectural design class (code for lines drawing class) we are taught on perspective. Basically, when you look at a particular object from the top, from the front and from the side, you will have different perspectives of the object. Not unless you are looking at a perfectly regular object. (That is to mean an object with equal length on its edges e.g. Sphere or a cube). However, for one to fully understand the design of the object, one had to know how the object looked like from all perspectives. Perspective however, is not always that straight forward. For a brain that is designed to view situations from multiple perspectives (points of view) we often find that we have a very tunneled approach to how we eventually look at situations.

Example. Say I wanted to solve poverty in a nearby slum. A musician would tell me to open a social hall and make it a space to grow talents. The activists would tell me to go the streets and demand that those who are responsible to take responsibility. The entrepreneur would tell me to go start a small microfinance and assist these slum dwellers find a means of livelihood. The politician would ask for their vote.

Now if you do not enjoy history, this is a good point to stop reading.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon is one of the most charismatic and proficient leaders the world has ever known. He was ruler of France in the early 1800s. History tells us that he grew to have a vision to become ruler of the world as people knew it then. No one was really interested in Africa. He then set out to become ruler of the world. In his ten years as the ruler of France, he had managed to Annex a significant part of Europe and Russia. Nothing and no one was going to stop him from what he wanted to achieve.

This one time, Napoleon matched towards Moscow. He went conquering all who were on his path. No one stood against him and lived to tell the tale. He was doing it. When he got to Moscow he found nothing and no one. Nothing but the Moscow winter. This was the shock of his life. What had happened? When the people of Moscow heard that Napoleon was coming, they packed up their things, burnt their crops and houses and went up the caves and hid. When Napoleon got to Moscow, he found no people to conquer and rule over, no food, no shelter and the winter down on him. Needless to say, his army did not survive the winter.

History Q1: Why did Napoleon loose his campaign to Conquer Russia? Was it the people who burnt the crops and the houses or was it the winter which his men had not experienced before. If I am to look at ‘what’ caused Napoleons defeat, then it is the snow, however, if I am to look at ‘who’ then it is the people. It is all about perspective. (borrowed from the Play ‘Sarafina’)

If you are not actively shaping a way in which you interpret information around you, someone else is.