[November 18, 2024] As frequent readers of my website know, I had knee replacement surgery a month ago. The week following My surgery, I used a walker to help stabilize my walk and to act as a safety measure to prevent falling. I rarely traveled outside my home but when I did venture out, I experienced another world that, for me, had been in plain view but I didn’t see it.
The first hint was when I rode with a friend to Physical Therapy, a short distance from my home. As I was struggling to get inside the front set of double doors with the walker, a young man ran up to me and opened the doors for me. I’d never experienced such courtesy. I am the one who opens doors for others, women, the elderly, those with handicaps, and sometimes just to be courteous to others.
This same young man made sure I got into the elevator and to the second floor where the PT area was located. I thanked him. He left with a wide smile and encouraged me to do daily PT. And he didn’t work there. I found the same level of courtesy wherever I went; doors opened for me, people looking at me and smiling, making small talk (typically I’m the one to initiate a conversation), asking me if I am in need of any assistance whatsoever. Such a lovely, courteous, positive world, the one I am in every day but did not see.
This experience left me feeling good about the people around me, strangers or acquaintances, family or friends. Individuals went out of their way to assist me. I found this especially interesting because I was using a walker right before a very divisive presidential election when folks were on edge. Because of the strained emotions, I saw many people lose their cool, letting their tempers run wild in the build up to the election.
After a week on the walker, I successfully transitioned to a cane. The cane has a similar function to the walker, but is used with care because it might throw off your gate. I found a similar pattern when meeting people on the streets. They opened doors and asked me if I needed any kind of assistance or information. I politely declined since pushing to walk without assistance is the proper goal.
I’m no longer using either the walker or cane. We’re back in my old world. I am the one affording others courtesy. If I’m tired and my wife notices it, she’ll have me use the cane. Instantly I am back in that world I’ve rarely seen. There is a world out there in plain view. You just have to see it.
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Gen. Satterfield, welcome to the world of women, where everything (mostly everything ) is handed to them without effort. Men work, women take. That is the way of the world and maybe nothing will change. You got a quick and short glimpse of it. On another note, women generally want to be more like men. And when they get it, they are shocked by how poorly they are treated. Welcome ladies to the world of men.
So true. Happy early Thanksgiving Day to all my friends here.
What Gen. Doug Satterfield is describing here, where doors are opened for him and people are extra courteous and helpful, is the everyday world of women, especially pretty women. Western, pretty women are handed everything. It is up to them to accept or reject what is given to them in a silver platter. Gen. S. Had a glimpse of that world. And yet women believe they are oppressed.
Great ideas flourish here. I would not have thought of my world this way and, thus it must be true that we can live in the same world but experience it differently.
Enjoyed this article. Yep, people have potential that we can not see.
Getting a little philosophical are we Jessica? I think Gen. Satterfield is just making it clear that people treat others based on their perception of who they are or might be. I just liked this post at the surface level. Funny.
I think what Gen. Satterfield is seeing – or experiencing – is the world that Western women live in. Our existence is easier, people are more polite to us just because we are women, we are deferred to, doors are opened, folks smile at us, they compliment us, we are given additional chances, standards are lowered, we aren’t required to compete like men, this is what Gen. Satterfield is experiencing and he liked it — at least I think he liked being treated this way. He saw another part of the world that was good. Imagine, if we could hold this thought in our mind, if a woman had to live in a man’s world and be treated like a man. I propose that those women might just run away from it and scream “unfair.”
Learn to see. Easy to say. Hard to do.
Well, Mainer, I think that’s part of what Gen. S. Is getting at. But, and this is his most important point, you first have to acknowledge that you have a very limited and restrictive view of reality and that there are many influences on that view. It takes practice and it takes others, those who can “see” to help us out. I’m not so sure we can learn quickly without being assisted by others.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
Without the motivation and effort, you won’t see more of the world unless, like happened to Gen. S., circumstances change that pushes you to see this.
Another great article. I say this a different way ……….. WAKE UP, PEOPLE …….. WAKE UP ……. Sorry, but I’m not as polite as Gen. Satterfield.
Sir, very few of us will understand this.
“Another World in Plain View” 📚
What I recommend for those who want to see more of the real world, aka ‘reality’, then read “55 Rules for a Good Life” by Gen. Doug Satterfield. In this book, he presents techniques on how to think and behave that can and will give you the best outcome in your life. The book is easy to read, inexpensive on Amazon, and lays it out for the average person to understand and follow. But, as Gen. Satterfield notes, you have to have the personal commitment to make it work.
Gen. Satterfield, thanks for your insight. Many of us mature adults already know this either implicitly or explicitly. Knowing that our view of the world is put through many filters (culture, biology, needs and wants, fear, etc.) that influences how we perceive what is all around us. That is, in part, what makes each of us unique humans. 👀 Sir, love your work. Keep on trucking!
Best leadership website out here on the Internet.
Yep, I agree.
Wendy, well said. I’m just kicking back with my pet cat on my lap, as she purrs away, and reading Gen. Satterfield’s blog. I’m a bit sad that his long-running series “Letters to My Granddaughter” has come to an end, but hey, it was great reading the whole series.
AMAZIN’
Wow, imagine that. The point is well taken, yet so many younger folks who are propagandized in public schools today are taught that their emotional perception of the world is all of reality when nothing could be further from the truth.
Indeed, we miss out on much of what is often right in front of us. I got from your letters to your granddaughter that as a kid, you had a hard time focusing. Most of us fall prey to that. Hang in there and work in “seeing” what is unseen.
REMEMBER THIS ARTICLE:
“ Missing the Obvious & the Invisible Gorilla”
https://www.theleadermaker.com/missing-the-obvious-the-invisible-gorilla/
👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀🥹
Here is the link to that psychology experiment— https://www.livescience.com/6727-invisible-gorilla-test-shows-notice.html
Great experiment. I learned about it in Psy 101 in college.