A different perspective on the snow

So, as you all saw, I ranted about the early snow on Friday.

Just a few minutes ago, I got conclusive proof that there are always two sides to these sorts of thing. I believe in my past posts I've mentioned my Thai friend Silk. As a quick refresher, Silk is a native Thai who became a Christian back as a teenager while the first wave of BIC workers were in Thailand, in the Bangkok area. As a natural connection upon their arrival, she became very close with my friends who are serving there now, and is actually in the process of formally joining their team. As part of that process, she is in school for a year here in the States, at the Global Awakening school in nearby Mechanicsburg.

It doesn't snow in Thailand, and though Silk had been to the US on two previous occasions, both times were in Florida. So, though I didn't think of it at the time, last Friday was her first time to see snow (actually she saw some on Thursday too, but it didn't REALLY snow until Friday). She just sent out an update to friends and supporters, and man, was she excited. Lots of exclamation points. Let's just say she was probably the polar opposite of my attitude.

It's just really interesting to think about that, and how your own experiences completely color the prespective from which you see the world, such that the exact same event is perceived and reacted to in completely different ways depending on the person. For me, the snow was a source of complete frustration, for Silk, a source of complete joy. The reality of how everyone views the world through a very different lens is one I've been very aware of for a long time, but tonight it just stepped up and slapped me in the face. It's something to think about, whenever you see someone overreacting to something, or doing something that seems irrational to you. There's a good chance (I mean, a really good chance) that they have some experience from their life that is coloring that event, one that you don't share, and therefore don't understand. Whether we see it or perceive it, or even understand it, there's always a reason why we do what we do and feel how we feel.

So, I guess, retrospectively, I can be glad for the snow and glad for the joy that it brought my friend. However, Silk did mention in her e-mail that she's praying for a LOT of snow. We may have to have a chat about that one next time I see her...