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Are you smarter than a five-year-old?

Submitted by:
Joel Shults, PoliceOne Columnist

It was the first Christmas in their new apartment in the city. Taking up too much space in the small living room it stood in the corner partially covering the bookshelf. But with a preschooler in the house Christmas has to be big so the full sized tree felt just right. Although not like the attic full of decorations from decades of Christmases at Gramma’s and Grampa’s house, there was a box of trinkets in the closet full enough to light up the little girl’s eyes.

This is the Perspective Tree. (PoliceOne Image)

With cookies and cocoa nearby and an iPod full of carols on speaker, the artful process of decorating the tree began. The little girl packed the branches in front of her with all the pretty things she could find and pronounced it finished. 

And so the tree stood, bare branches everywhere but the space within the grasp and vision of the child.

Someday this little girl may be a police officer, police trainer, or police administrator. Hopefully somewhere along the way she’ll learn to understand that there are things that she can’t see that are still important and part of the picture. She’ll learn to step back, ask others how things look to them, and see things from different angles. But for now, at barely five, her world, her thoughts, and her picture is everybody’s world.

Not everyone leaves that stage of thinking. What’s your perspective? Can you see what others see or only what is in front of you? Is your way the only way?  Is your experience the only experience to bring to bear on a problem? Maturity doesn’t only make us smarter and taller. It also makes us realize there is more to the world than meets our own eyes.