BLAKE AND ME

Why We See The World Differently

I recently went to Blake Shelton’s Honky Tonk concert in Columbus, Ohio.   It was AWESOME!   The music was so loud you could feel your heart beating.  The revolving spotlights that lit up the 20,000 people packed into the Nationwide Arena brought color into a lot of lives that night.   From the moment the country western star stepped on to the stage in front of that huge video screen, the crowd jumped to their feet and started moving to the sounds and stories  of hillbilly music.

I didn’t think it could get any better than that until the mega star shouted, “Now, I’m going to take you back to the past.”   I winked at my husband and thought of those times we danced cheek to cheek to The Four Seasons, The Supremes, Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, The Shirelles, Bobby Vinton, Ricky Nelson, Franke Avalon and The Drifters —  back in the 1960’s — when things were black and white…

Then Shelton screamed, “We’re going ALL THE WAY BACK ——>  to 2001. “      

What? 2001?

Ha! I forgot that  his past and mine were  slightly different. 

Reminds me of the time I was trying to explain the term Frame of Reference to one of my speech classes. I wanted them to understand that people communicate from different life experiences.  (To be honest, I was also trying to show them I had MUCH MORE experience  in life than they did. Ha!)  

Although there are many demographic factors like gender, religion, ethnic background, class, sexual orientation, occupation, education, group membership that influence communication, research shows AGE is the MAJOR factor. So…

I drew a long line on the blackboard similar to a Likert Scale to demonstrate my point.  I divided the  line into  intervals labeling them 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and told the students this illustrated a person’s Life Line -- with 80 being the average life expectancy in the USA.   Then with a dramatic flair I put an X where they were on the Life Line, and then with an even bigger flair I put an X where I was. 

With a satisfied grin on my face,  I proudly turned around and asked if they got my point.  And a kid from the back of the room yelled, “Yeah, you don’t have a lot longer to go. ”  

Well, he had a good point there. I’m still laughing about it…    Your view   definitely depends on where you’re sitting – on the line.

You know what? That could be a great country western song. What do you think, Blake?

It’ll Be OK.

~~~

“Fog is just clouds that fell down. “ ~ Dylan, age 6

COMMENT: What’s one thing you think you see differently because of your age?