The Canada goose’s bill pointed in my direction. That meant it wasn’t watching me. You see, geese have binocular vision with eyes on opposite sides of their head. That means that the two eyes look in opposite directions and provide nearly 360 degrees of vision. Useful for a creature which every predator hopes to catch and eat.

I wondered how geese reconcile two separate eyes and so designed an experiment. I arranged mirrors to direct my eyes to the right and left and expected confusion. Didn’t happen, though. I lost depth perception but my brain could instantaneously switch from eye to eye giving me a broader field of view. If we had tigers in Arkansas, they wouldn’t be able to sneak up on me.

Tigers aside, a lot of people get into trouble by a narrow view of circumstances. They can’t see any other possibilities than a preconceived notion. The most severe conflicts occur when two people can each only see one possibility, and it isn’t the same.

Kit and I teach a marriage principle where we trade sides in an argument. Kit tells my side and I tell hers. We’ve actually found that I can argue better against me than she can. The strategy always defuses emotions and helps us to make the best decision. The first step in solving an argument is to be certain you understand the other person’s perspective.

By wisdom a house is built. And by understanding it is established.

Proverbs 24:3