Point of View

Fraiser of Lisuland in northern Burma translated the Scriptures into the Lisu language and then left a young fellow with the task of teaching the people to read.

When he returned six months later, he found three students and the teacher seated around a table with the Scriptures opened in front of the teacher. When the students each read, they left the Bible where it was. The man on the left read it sideways, the man on the right read it sideways from the other side, and the man across from the teacher read it upside down. Since they always occupied the same chairs, that’s how each had learned to read, and that’s how each thought the language was written.

When we learn something from only one viewpoint, we may mistakenly assume it’s the only perspective that’s accurate. At times, it’s good to interrogate our thinking by switching seats so as to engage a different angle on the same truth.