A Look At The World

Back in the days when the Amazon was only a physical jungle where a compass was needed to survive, two shoe salesmen were sent by their company to some well populated but less civilized parts of the world.

The first salesman was abroad about three days before he wrote back to the company and said, “Bring me back home. No one here wears shoes.”

The second salesman was there for only two days when he wrote back to the company and said, “Send me more shoes — no one here has any!”

Both men saw the same thing: people without shoes. But they also saw that in a different way. One saw it as an opportunity, while the other saw it as an impassable barrier. How would you have seen it? That is not easy to answer because it goes far beyond simple optimism and pessimism. In fact this goes all the way to the question, “How do you see the world?” In a term you’ve probably come across, “What is your worldview?”

In my newsletter (link to sign up is on this page) this week I asked readers to explain their worldview in a single sentence. Can you do that? First let me tell you what a worldview is: it is how you (mentally, spiritually, philosophically) see the world.

The truth is it’s highly unlikely that you think very much about the world at all. The same is true for me, and for most of us. That’s fine, because I’m pretty sure the world doesn’t think about me, either. Anyway, here is one reason we don’t think about the big wide world.

So many worlds…

In my life I have lived in a number of different worlds. You probably have too, but here are some of mine.

As a teenager I lived in the very narrow world of a very small town and a very small school. It was only later that I understood I could have been in a school ten times that size and still lived in a small world, but the point is I didn’t think much about anything outside that town. Most of my thoughts were about the school and my friends there.

But I also had friends at church. Some were duplicates from school, but not all. And I played golf, so I had friends there, too. So I was kind of in three worlds. That doesn’t count my family, so let’s say I lived in four worlds.

When I got to college it was basically the same, but I added the world of a fraternity. That broadened my view of the world some. So did my job, working in a pool hall. There I was just on the edge of the world of serious gambling — primarily at pool — but I only peeked in.

None of those worlds affected my view of the actual world like my next stop, The United States Army. The world I lived in there was different than any I had experienced. I was a soldier, and I might be called on to fight for America. That could come with consequences of all sorts. No one knew me or my family, and no one would have cared if they did. How would I make my way in that world?

Just before I joined, other college students were protesting the war in Vietnam. Now I was part of that and might have to physically go there. I didn’t, as it turns out, but I did go to three foreign countries: California, New Jersey, and Korea.

Just kidding, of course, but I’d never been to any of those places, and Jersey and Cali might as well have been (as Korea actually was) on some other continent. My worldview was expanding like crazy, and continued to expand.

Since those days I’ve lived in the worlds of tennis, of athletic clubs, of ministry, of high tech, of music, and of books. I still know people in those worlds, and I still speak all of their languages. And they have all helped shape and expand my worldview.

Take a broader look

You don’t have to do all of that, though. You can read books about history and geography and business and politics and people. You can read the Bible, which has all of that in it. You can listen to music from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Here’s an easy check for your own worldview: if you hear about some event in the world — let’s say a war in Iran — and your first or primary thought is about how that affects you, your worldview is probably too narrow. If you hear about a tsunami in the Pacific and your first thought is that your flight to Hawaii could be delayed, that might tell you something.

I’ve been there and done that. On 9/11/2001 I was in an airport waiting room when the twin towers were hit, and I saw the second attack in real time on TV. People were dying, and I thought about my flight. I then thought about my wife’s job with the airline and called her. Part of my reaction was shock, I know, but part of it was that I was in my own tiny world, and my view of the whole world revolved too much around that. On the days after 9/11, my worldview deepened.

My own worldview includes this: there is good everywhere, because humans were created by God who is good. We can see that good in so many places and people and actions, and we should add to it. I also see that there is evil in the world. I see it in Iran when tens of thousands of protesters are killed for desiring freedom. I see it in Gilbert, Arizona, when teens from wealthy families kill another teenager and terrorize the area for almost a year.

For a worldview I don’t recommend a political party, or even liberal or conservative, I recommend something deeper and unchanging. Either way, think about how you “see” the world. There is a lot of good out there, and I’d hate for you to miss it!

Do good. It’s in you!