Pin the tail on the donkey
An early childhood memory came bubbling to the surface the other day. It was a child's birthday party and we were playing the classic game of pin the tail on the donkey.
You know the one where you take it in turns to be blindfolded and are then given "a tail" to pin on a picture of a donkey on the wall.
The results were bemusing, to say the least, and wildly hilarious at best. The tail might finish up pinned to the donkey’s mouth, ear, or right foreleg, in fact anywhere except on the posterior of the creature where it should be affixed. It was great fun and the memory came with a happy little buzz.
As we get older our eyesight can grow dim physically and we frequently wear bits of glass in front of our eyes to help us read literature and enhance our vision.
Sadly though, we can also develop some cataracts over our vision of other people. We don’t see them as clearly as we should. Our vision of them is a little blurry because we might see them through the lens of prejudice or the distortion of past hurts and history. Not all clergy are bad apples. Some are peachy mangoes. Not all who happen to grow up in a particular culture are disappointments.
I have had the undeserved privilege of travelling to foreign countries and I hope that when I leave the natives will say ‘Wow! Those Australians were well-mannered, respectful, friendly, and easy to get on with!’
For when we see others through our own blurry filters we only cheat ourselves of a potential relationship and friendship where all can be enriched and enhanced.
In doing so we are both the blindfolded and the donkey. The creature who has its tail in the wrong place.