“What is obvious to me is not obvious to you.”

I think this sentence sums up many of the concepts behind One Daily Tale quite well.

On a global scale, it simply means that different cultures lead to different ways of thinking. And also to different laws and rules.

It’s “obvious” when put that way, but once again, what is obvious to some is not to others.

Which brings us to the individual level.
We are billions of individuals, all inherently different due to genetics. And all different because of our experiences.

These two elements “define” us. In quotes, because we can all change and shift our perspective on past experiences. But in purely factual terms, an experience is an experience.

That said, living through an experience while having the awareness to process it, versus living the same experience without that awareness, results in two completely different experiences…

That’s why always keeping in mind that we can change, and that it is up to us to truly “live” an experience, is crucial.

I often come back to something my father-in-law said during a family meal, while watching the Paris Olympics, not long after the whole family had kindly tried bouldering—the sport I regularly practice.

(Which is arguably one of the best sports, by many criteria! It relies on body weight, so no extreme muscle distortions, and it involves failure and the process of reassessing that failure with each attempt. It requires thinking about how to solve a problem, demands a flexible body, and encourages cooperation with other climbers, who have different strengths, different heights, and can help you see the problem from another perspective. Of course, sometimes, you just lack strength or technique—that’s a fact…)

But back to the point—he said that after seeing climbing on TV and having personally tried the activity, he could better understand the difficulty for the athletes. He was lightly teased because he had only climbed twice, but in reality, his words held deep meaning.

We cannot truly grasp things for which we have no experience. We can imagine them, sure, but that remains purely the product of our imagination, our biases, and our judgment.
Having an experience does not mean we possess full knowledge of a subject. However, there is a vast difference between having had an experience and not having had it.

And I, more than anyone, make the mistake of speaking purely from preconceived ideas and biases. It is, after all, literally impossible to have no biases—we simply do not have the time to develop deep knowledge in all possible and imaginable fields.

It is impossible not to judge, but knowing that we are judging allows us to react and see things differently—often with greater clarity and empathy.

#reflexions-posts-en