The one on the left says "The worst bench on 118th ave", and the one on the right says "The best bench on 118th ave".
Normally, I don't pay attention to where I'm walking, and I've passed these benches a million times. But that day, I was putting up posters on the post between these benches and happened to notice their message.
It made me think about perspective - how "the best" and "the worst" coexist in time together, and the only reason we see one over the other is based on the angle we see the situation from.
Recently, I was involved in planning a festival, that, two weeks before the date, was rendered a $0 budget. It was the worst time - trying to plan something that was supposed to have funding. But it was the best time - coming together as a team and seeing everyone who pitched in to pull off something that seemed impossible. I chose to focus on the latter. The day of the event, I thought it was the most fun I've had in a long time at a community festival. I even danced to some music, and I completely white-girl-dance to the point of being too embarrassed to do it in public. I actually was excited to see children approach me to play my carnival games (where I offered to be, even though I'm not a kids person). And I almost teared up out of joy a few times.
People approached me telling me how stressed out they were - the bathrooms were overflowing, we were running out of BBQ food, there were a couple of vendors who were unhappy, and a few awkward encounters because of miscommunication. Each time somebody told me something, my internal response was "THIS IS AWESOME!!!" It was the best day. For some, it was the worst day. But it was all in the perspective of the beholder.
FYI, there was enough BBQ for those who wanted it, vendors settled down, and the toilets remained disgusting, but as far as I know, nobody peed their pants.
No comments:
Post a Comment