10 people witnessed an event.
Each of them has a different interpretation to it.
They can’t ALL be RIGHT.
That suggest to me things can be interpreted WRONGLY.
How do you interpret things?
What is the reason/logic behind how you interpret things?
Tradition?
Culture?
Religion?
Education?
Experience?
Exposure?
SCENE ONE:
There is a common Nigerian Proverb I have heard many times:
“The witch cried last night, the baby died this morning: we KNOW the witch killed the child!”
Seriously, how did “we” KNOW?
We don’t really KNOW, but tradition has just wired our minds to interpret the wailing of the witch last night as the reason the baby died this morning.
SCENE TWO:
Jesus was with His Disciples one day and they came across a blind man. He was blind from birth.
They asked Jesus a very interesting question:
“Who SINNED, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
-John 9:1-2.
Now, this question makes no sense. How in the world would he have sinned BEFORE he was BORN?
The issue here is, RELIGION wired their minds to interpret it like that.
SCENE THREE:
The young man was upset.
I asked him why.
“It’s Ronke!” he said.
I know Ronke to be his girlfriend.
“What did she do?”
He didn’t reply: he just handed me a gift package.
I opened it, I saw a bottle of perfume, roll on, body spray, aftershave and a pack of 10 shaving sticks.
“Ah! She gave you this?”
“Yes!” he replied angrily.
“I think this is a nice gesture, but it seems to annoy you. Why?”
“Uncle Harry, don’t you KNOW what this means?”
I wasn’t prepared for what came next.
“It means she thinks I smell and I’m dirty! She thinks I don’t groom myself well enough for her!”
Woah!
I would NEVER had thought like that!
Tunde gave the gesture that interpretation and there was nothing I could do or say to make him see it otherwise.
Tunde probably interpreted that gesture based on his culture or experience.
We can go on and on…
The point here is, how do we interpret things RIGHT?
Let’s look into Scripture…
He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” -Luke 12: 54-56
What Jesus is saying here is, if you can interpret the weather based on what you see (the cloud) and what you feel (the wind), you should be able to interpret other things.
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. –Proverbs 1:2-7
It takes WISDOM to interpret things RIGHT.
Most times, this WISDOM comes from EXPERIENCE and EXPOSURE.
When I was about 10 years old, I went to play with a friend. He was the last born in a family of 6 children, so his eldest brother was about 20 then. He was playing Table Tennis in the backyard of their house with his friends, so his youngest brother (my friend) and I stood by watching them play.
Then my friend’s brother said, “Harry, are you aware my hand can reach you where you are standing?”
I responded, “Woah! Your hand must be very long!”
My friend laughed and said, “What he means is, you’re too close to the table!”
I thought to myself: why didn’t I understand what my friend’s brother said but my friend did?
Why did I need him to interpret his brother’s words to me?
It was because I didn’t have older people I talked to (apart from my parents), but my friend had several older siblings he related with. So with time, he gleaned wisdom and understanding from them.
Our realities will always be a reflection of who we relate with: “He who walks with wise men will be wise…” Scripture says (Proverbs 13:20).
To develop the capacity to interpret things right, we MUST rid ourselves from ALL bias and wrong programming. We all have biases that we grew with that make us view things through tainted glasses. We MUST drop all these and embrace WISDOM to interpret things correctly.
Jesus told His Disciples, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They reasoned among themselves and said, “it’s because we didn’t carry any bread along” -Matthew 16: 6-7
See how they interpreted Jesus’ statement! Why did they go off-point? Because they REASONED AMONG THEMSELVES!
They all had the same level of Wisdom and Understanding! The more we relate with wiser people, the wiser we get. That was why my friend could understand his brother’s statement better than I could: he was exposed to people with better Wisdom and Understanding.
If you feel you are not as wise as you should be, if you always misinterpret things, it just may be because of the company you keep: you may need to change your crew to a wiser one: surround yourself with wiser people and your mind will thank you for it.
You will learn to interpret things better and more accurately…
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels