Dear Jessica Brennan,
It is quite interesting to watch how three people who witness the same thing can interpret it so differently. I have been able to observe this with a clear lens during lockdown, in the news and the world, and with your Dad. Allow me to illustrate with this little nursery rhyme as an example.
MARY’S LAMB
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day—
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
And so the Teacher turned him out
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear;
And then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As said—‘I’m not afraid—
You’ll keep me from all harm.
‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?’
The eager children cry
‘O, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The Teacher did reply;—
‘And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
My reaction: What a wonderful story about giving and receiving kindness. Isn’t that lovely that Mary had the affection of the little wooly lamb. I wonder why the lamb was so in need of companionship? Surely there were other lambs. I wonder why he didn’t want to make friends with them? Going to school was against the rules though, so he needed to be told not to linger near. We don’t want everyone running around breaking rules.
Dad’s Reaction: The poem is a bit sappy but I like the nice, little wooly lamb. Who would make a dumb rule about not being able to bring a lamb to school? Rules are made to be broken. That bloody teacher should worry more about teaching spelling and history and less about a poor little lamb that wants to hang around the schoolyard! I would be calling the school and giving them a piece of my mind, if I was Mary’s dad.
Don’t we just know it.
Jessica’s reaction: “I want a wooly little lamb!!”
This is just a silly example of how we see and describe things differently. We laugh about it.
However, we as a planet have all come through several years now of people looking at the same situations and having very different opinions, and there wasn’t a lot of laughing.
More recently with the pandemic, while we have seen much evidence of human kindness, I have noticed too, that as people get more isolated, they can become more paranoid and more tribal. They are more right, and less likely to explore other perspectives. They are more invested in defending their own position. There is a lot of clinging to opinions and territory. People with power are wielding it. Conspiracy theorists abound. Those who need control to boost their egos are seizing it, even if it is just for this moment in time.
This isn’t our best look. Maybe we should follow the advice of the verse.
‘And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
Love,
Mum xo