March 2006: The Old and New Kansas City

Despite the promise of telling my stories with new eyes, I have to admit that so far most of my writings have been seen with my “old eyes”.

The last days I have spent quite a bit of time contemplating what exactly it means to see with “new eyes”. After all, (technically speaking) all images perceived by me during this live time will be through the same eyes. Of course with “new eyes” I am not referring to physically new eyes but rather a new perspective, to truly see from someone else’s point of view. But even this, it seems, is very difficult as well because as soon as I were to completely embrace someone else’s perspective it would still be my own, not theirs. Further, I could never be certain that what I perceive to be someone else’s point of view is truly theirs and not merely something in the middle between me and them.

For those of you reading this web site for travel stories, I will not disappoint you. After being absent for “only” two months I have been able to return to Kansas City for a few days, some very enjoyable days I might add. What was striking to me was that despite only having been away for two months and still using the same set of physical eyes, my own perspective of Kansas City has completely changed. So, in response to the challenge from the previous paragraph: through personal experiential evidence I can confirm that it is possible to see with different eyes! An wise Indian saying comes to mind: “You cannot climb into the same river twice.”

After a big sigh of relief since exactly this is supposed to be the theme of the web site, I now start to wonder what led to this new perspective of mine in the same city as the same person only 2 months later? Is it the luxury of being able to sleep until noon every day rather than the 6:30am alarm clock and for once being wide awake rather than operating on constant sleep deficit? Is it that I am now completely free of day time obligations and no longer have work responsibilities to attend to? Is it the new and stronger appreciation for the many wonderful people in this city (isn’t it unfortunate that so often it is only after the fact that we fully come to appreciate something fully). I suppose it was a combination of all these factors plus many more and the result has been a remarkable shift in perspective from the Kansas City in my memory from only two months back, the city without mountains, forests or ocean from which I always wanted to travel away to reach a more enjoyable destination, to a Kansas City in which I still know many wonderful (and loving) people and where it is easy to truly enjoy myself.

Let me close with this recent insight: Do not let the experience shape your perspective, but let your perspective shape your experience.