All a matter of perspective

It's so easy to get mired down in the fine details of a situation, and forget the bigger picture which knits it all together.

As I flew out for Tasmania this afternoon, I was struck again by how all the things that make life so intense on the ground seem so insignificant from the air.

The cars appear like matchboxes; surely, it couldn't ever be stressful driving something so small, all the way down there.

The houses are all bunched together in some sort of order, and all appears well; could there really be families down there who will have to leave their homes this weekend because of the recent rise in rental prices?

Some of those buildings down there are hospitals, prisons, homes with domestic violence, where terrible sadness pulls at the hearts of those under their roofs. But they are hidden, and all I can see from up here is the tiles.

People walking are miniscule dots; could many of them really find themselves overwhelmed with things as big as fear, hatred, love?

All I have up here is the clouds, the quiet hum of the engines, and the glorious vista laid bare. The city - silent, sunny, peaceful.

Yes, there is a sense of seeing 'the whole' with this shift in perspective.

And, as I reflect on the 'on the ground' struggles, there is also a real awareness that contexts are made up of many parts, which cannot be ignored. It's good to see things from up here. And it's not a bad thing to view them from the runway either.