Dear Editor,

The world is not what is seen, it is what is perceived. We each look at the world and we understand it differently. It is likely that we see the same objects in the world; but, our worlds are not the same. You may see a man talking to a woman and you think, “How sweet, two people getting to know each other.” Another will look at the same scene and think, “A black man seducing a white woman.” Notice, please, that the objects of the world are the same but the relationships (the associations between the objects) are fundamentally different. Why does this happen?

The philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, once wrote, “The world is the totality of facts, not of things.” I am not smart enough to understand Wittgenstein; but, I think that is consistent with my claim. We look at the things and yet, those things do not really enter our brains as pure images. The visual image is filtered and everything is assigned a value. At the very least, the filter responds with “good” or “bad”. You liked it or you didn’t. That filtered image becomes fact. The things were just the soil from which your personal fact was harvested.

If that soil has been nurtured with reason and compassion, the fact of the above encounter is innocent and hopeful. If fertilized with anger and prejudice, the encounter is corrupt and vile. The point is that we all may see the same things but we perceive them differently. The objects are the same, the relationships different; but, it is the relationships that are crucial to understanding the world.

Anyone who has listened to our freely broadcast Board of Trustees (BOT) meetings understands that many citizens attend those meetings and directly participate in their governance. They identify problems as well as constructive solutions. These citizens are inspiring and their statements often result in action by the BOT. Others speak regularly in order to inform the BOT that it is failed and wretched. They remind this town’s government that it is ineffective and incapable of serving the people.

Each of our citizens see the same things: the same people, the same buildings, the same streets, the same traffic. The things are the same but the relationships (the perception) are different. Those who work constructively with the government recognize that we are all imperfect; but that we strive to be at least competent. What more can be expected of any human institution? Our relationships, when honest and hopeful, will eventually yield value and progress. When relationships are seen as corrupt and false, nothing in the world can be trusted and nothing constructive can be done. Our perceptions are our world; and, to some degree, we can adjust those perceptions. We are able to choose whether we perceive a web of lies or a community of people doing their best to help each other.

A community of people: flawed yet striving, imperfect yet competent, working together to form a world which may be honestly perceived as good and worthy of hope. We individually cannot make the whole world right; but, we can make this little part of the world right. We can agonize loudly from the periphery that everything is corrupt and that people are not fit to govern themselves. We can strengthen everyone’s perception of a world without hope; or, we can perceive the world as basically good. We can become an integral part of this community. We can join in public meetings; we can volunteer for committees; we can run for public office (deadline for Ned BOT petition is January 24th). We can do the actual work of making our town a pleasant oasis in a puzzling desert of want.

Julian S. Taylor 

Trustee 

(This is the opinion of the author only.)