To See or To Look

To See or To Look

When I was in 3rd grade, I remember one of our teachers was explaining the value of seeing and looking, and the value of looking at the big picture.

According to the dictionary, "to see" is defined as: perceive with eyes; discern visually; recognize. On the other hand, "to look" is defined as: to scrutinize and examine; investigate; think of or regard in a specified way.

Our teacher showed to us an illustration similar to this:

When she asked the class, “What can you see?” Most of the answers were, “A big red dot.” 

Then she continued, “Very good. You all saw the big red dot. But what about the big white space?” None of us could say anything. Not one student, myself included, said: “A big white space.” None of us recognized the majority of the space.

All of us failed to look hard enough to look at the big picture, which shows the red dot occupying less than 5% of the paper and the white space is actually 95% of the illustration.

In life, we strive hard to have a clean and clear space, THE PERFECT SPACE. Any spot whether a small spot or a light smear could easily be mistaken as a permanent mark, which is irreparable. Any small spot or light smear is considered an imperfection, which is damaged. Any small spot or light smear is deemed unacceptable, which is unworthy.

When we meet a person, do we see the red dot first (5%) or the big space (95%)? Or do we look at the person’s totality? If we are just merely seeing the person and not looking, maybe we are not giving that person a fair chance. 

If we are continuously just seeing the red dot all the time, we are failing ourselves in truly looking at the big picture.