Stories have always played a big part in my life. I can remember, when I was younger, lying on the couch listening to my mum read the first four books of the Harry Potter series.
When it is written well, there is something deeply compelling about story. Somehow it is able to transport us into a world full of opportunity and expectation. Story, though, is more than simply a way of getting away from the current world we face. In story we are able to work through our life challenges; we find rest and entertainment, but we are also able to find encouragement to step back into the world we inhabit.
One of the techniques writers can use to get a story across is to show the same event from several different character’s perspectives. We are first shown the event from the perspective of the main character, but after it finishes, we are brought back to experience the same event from a completely different character’s perspective. Though the same event happens, we find that there were other factors at play that give more depth to the story. As we are shown each character’s experience of the same event, we slowly develop a deeper and deeper understanding of all the nuances at play. When, at first glance, we thought that the event was orchestrated for one purpose, we can find that, in fact, there was a completely different purpose, or possibly several.
The reason I find the technique of offering different perspectives compelling is because it speaks to what we often forget about real life. As an individual, I often find that the purpose I give to an event is shaped solely by my own experience of the situation. As the father of a toddler this has come sharply into focus. We have all been in the supermarket and seen a parent struggling to control their toddler as they tantrum or tear things off the shelves; “Just control your child!” pre-parent me would think. However, for anyone who has had a toddler would know, it is never that simple.
In the Bible, after Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, we see his followers inspired by God. They go out into the streets and begin telling people about Jesus. The city they are in is filled with people of all different ethnicities who, amazingly, each hear what is being said in their own language. One of the meanings this story has is that it teaches us to recognise and honour diversity. We are all created differently and to experience the world from our unique perspectives. All these perspectives can so easily split us apart into cliques and bubbles. However, like a writer who uses differing perspectives to give deeper understanding, this is an opportunity for us to see things from someone else’s perspective. What would happen if we saw differences as a way of bringing us together, rather than tearing us apart?
