I wanted to tell yall a story from my childhood. It’s a sweet, funny story of kids being kids. But, it’s also a deeply philosophical story, if you like to think about things that way. See, my family moved to a small town in South Carolina when I was 4 years old. It would become my hometown, where I grew up. My dad had just accepted a call to the ministry of a church there, and we were moving into the manse, which was a house provided by the church. The manse was right beside the church building.
When we arrived at the manse, my sister, aged 6, and I, aged 4, excitedly explored the many rooms, hallways, and doors throughout the large 2-story house. We were left to our own devices as the adults busily “moved in.” My sister & I quickly found an interesting upstairs room, which was tiny, long, and narrow. At the end of the room was a large window, and, upon looking out, we were delighted to see A PLAYGROUND! We figured, because of the large amount of equipment, that the playground belonged to the church. Lickety-split, we tore off running down hallways and stairs to get to the backdoor as fast as we could. As we plowed through the door and ran outside, we looked left and right and all around—no playground. Just grass and bushes. Confused, we ran back upstairs, all the way to the window, pressing our noses to the glass. There: playground—swings, slides, merry-go-round, jungle gym. Again, we ran downstairs and out the back door. Here: no playground.
With furrowed brows, we walked back upstairs to the window. This time, we stared very hard at the scene. My sister, as the elder, started to take note that there was a tall hedge of bushes around the playground. She looked carefully at the hedges and yelled “AH-HA!” There was an opening in the hedges; a passageway into the playground. With renewed energy, we ran downstairs through the house again, and burst out the backdoor. Standing on the back steps, we looked around the yard and noticed that it was surrounded by a large hedge of bushes, about 8 feet tall. We surmised that the playground was on the other side of the hedge. We followed the hedge with our eyes until we saw it there—AN OPENING IN THE HEDGE! With lightning speed we rushed towards the opening, pushing each other as we each tried to arrive first. We tumbled through the opening and found ourselves standing in the driveway of another house. House, cars, garage, trashcans, but no playground. We looked at each other in disbelief. What was this dark magic? Where was the playground?
Completely perplexed, we walked back to our upstairs vantage point and looked out the window. We confirmed our previous observation—the playground should be on the other side of the hedge, and to access it you had to walk through the opening. Slowly, talking over our plan, we walked back down the stairs, through the house, and out into the yard. We walked straight to the opening and stepped through the hedge. We squinted our eyes and started to explore. After a thorough search up and down the neighbor’s driveway and as far into their yard as we dared, we concluded that there was no playground on these premises.
So, WHERE WAS THE PLAYGROUND??
Again, we walked back upstairs to look out the window. With fierce concentration, we stared at the confusing scene. That’s when my sister said, “Wait a minute. Look at the opening. There is a tall brick wall right beside the opening. I don’t remember a brick wall, do you?” I didn’t. With an extra burst of energy, we retraced our steps out the backdoor and stood with hands on hips staring at the hedge. There was no brick wall beside the opening. “What is going on?......” Our eyes followed the hedge further across the yard. “Look!! Way over there! A brick wall!! And, look! Another opening!!!” As fast as we could, we ran across the yard, through the opening and, finally, into the hallowed playground area. We laughed and shouted as we played and played.
After some time, we walked back through the opening in the hedge and back to the manse. We immediately made our way upstairs to the window. My sister, the older and wiser, wanted to see how exactly we had been fooled. This time, as we looked out the window, we realized that part of the house jutted out, obstructing our view of the yard. We had been able to see only part of the scene from this window. The whole left side of the yard was blocked from view, and we could only see one opening in the hedge. Quickly running to the other side of the house, we found another window. As we looked out at the playground, we could see the whole scene. From this window, we saw our yard, the hedge with 2 openings, one leading to the neighbor’s driveway, the other leading to the playground. It was right there before us in plain sight. A bird’s eye view of the whole thing. We had been looking out the wrong window.
Let me lay this out for you. When we first started the adventure, we thought we had all the information that we needed. We were like, “Playground in the yard, OK, right, got it.” But, we quickly realized that things were not as they seemed. We had to go back upstairs and look harder. We had to inspect the scene for more information. Time and time again, we thought we had gathered all the information that we needed; we ran downstairs, but we could not find the playground. To our credit, we did not give up. The playground was a prized treasure that we were determined to find. With each visit to the window, we paid close attention and studied more details. Our perseverance paid off, when we finally put the puzzle together and found our path to the playground. Turns out, if we had just taken a minute to look out a different window, the answer would have been clear from the beginning.
Have you ever been looking out the wrong window? Have you ever taken in information, thinking you had all the details that you needed, only to find that some information was missing? Information that was critical? Have you ever jumped to conclusions, based on partial information? Have you ever rushed headstrong into a situation where you thought you would succeed and then been dumbfounded when things didn’t work out as you expected? Have you ever checked yourself later to find out how you were fooled into going off track, or what caused you to miss crucial information? Have you ever been so confident that you didn’t even consider that there might be another viewpoint, and that you might see things differently if you tried it? Have you ever been looking out the wrong window?
I have, more than once. There are times when I am reminded of that day many years ago. Times when I suspect that I might be stuck looking out the wrong window as I try to handle a situation that does not seem to make sense. When I realize it, I try to step back and think of a different way to look at the problem, a different vantage point that might shed light on the situation. And, I think about persevering, even when it seems like I am not making any headway, when it seems like I am doomed to fail. I might have to run up and down the stairs a lot, but as long as I am chipping away at the problem, learning a little more each time, I think that I will make progress. What I’m saying is that, when faced with a perplexing situation, analyzing and learning as much as you can might give you the information that you need to resolve the problem. If you continue to struggle, you might need a completely new perspective. Looking from a different angle might make the path clearer.
My sister and I found the playground, even though we were looking out the wrong window. We eventually figured it out, and it gave me a story to tell you decades later. See what a 4 year-old and a 6 year-old can teach you about philosophy?