Wednesday, October 31, 2007

one item, two perspectives

There's a scene in The Rabbi and Hit Man book where a rabbi (not the one from the title) and a police detective are both looking at the same Torah scroll. The detective, never having seen one before, sees the holiness of the scroll. The rabbi, being familiar with the scroll, just sees the problems with the scroll, that it's corrupted (definitely the wrong word, but I can't think of the right one, and the thesaurus isn't helping.)

But it's the same scroll the two men are looking at together. The only difference is one man has no knowledge (about what they're looking at) and the other does.

I show someone something I've made. I see all the mistakes, the could've-done-better's, the should've-done-better's and I'm disappointed with the finished item. The other person, never having seen it before, maybe someone who doesn't do handwork, just sees the finished work, and doesn't see or know about the mistakes and could've/should've-done-better's, and they're pleased with it.

Same situation - one item, two perspectives one with experience, one without.

So how does something with "experience" (ok, emotional attachment) see something with the fresh eyes of a never-saw-this-before person?

2 comments:

Mary McK- said...

Just came across your blog and thought I would say Hi!

I wish I had an answer to your question, it would make my life so much easier not to stress out about my finished things and remember that most people just see the great finished object, not all of my mistakes.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

There's a heavy thought. I just sent two little cousins "liberated" quilts and I sent a note and explained that those weren't "mistakes", but the wonky squares were deliberate.