I couldn't see what was right in front of me.

This morning I sat near an east-facing window, contemplating my list of things to do for the day and enjoying the light playing on the prisms that hang in the window.  They splashed small bright rainbows of light around the room.  But then I noticed the mirror on the opposite wall--reflected in its surface was a long wide rainbow, much bigger than the others.  When I looked at the wall where that rainbow should have been, there was nothing.  I looked from the mirror to the wall and back again.  Perhaps there was the faintest light on the wall but not the large rainbow that the mirror reflected.  If it were not for the reflection I would not have seen the thing that really was there.

In the same way, I think that we need to pay heed to the reflections of other people.  We can't base everything on our own understanding only.  We need to know what others see that we ourselves cannot.  By silencing our critics, we lose half of the truth.  By ignoring conflicting opinions, we leave ourselves in darkness.  If we cannot see both sides, we are weakened.  We do not have to agree but we must offer respect because we can only see totality when we become aware that there is more than one way of seeing.