A Simple Perspective
Story By: Nathan Charles Cornett
"Perspective, a lesson that many teachers try to teach their students, is a mental view or aspect that people associate with certain objects, situations, or experiences. For example, if I look at an apple I may notice that it is bright, and big, or in a more philosophical view I may say the apple is pretty, well endowed, or even simplistic. However in the eyes of another pony the apple may be ugly, disgusting, deformed, and small. In this case both ponies see the apple in a different way, but both are right in the way they see it." the purple unicorn said as she paced back and forth across the linoleum floor in the classroom.
Ever since Twilight Sparkle had begun to research philosophy as interpreted by ponies she had found the idea of perspective the most intriguing of them all. It was by far one of the most controversial ideas in the world of philosophy, and often found itself at the center of many arguments. The most common argument centered around this idea was how could one discern the difference between an opinion and perspective. In Twilights eyes, there was no difference. To her, perspective and opinion were the exact same thing; they were just worded differently in order to help the simpler ponies understand the concept. According to famous scientists and critical thinkers in Canterlot however there was a large contrast between them, and they set out everyday to prove it. In the end the arguments boiled down to who could throw the biggest words with the biggest force at the other and the whole concept itself was pushed to the side.
"So Twilight, are you saying that I can call Apple Bloom stupid and she can say she's smart but we'll both still be right?" Sweetie Belle asked as she stuck her tongue out at Apple Bloom.
"Well yes, but you know it's not nice to call another classmate stupid Sweetie Belle." Twilight replied sternly as she stared down Sweetie Belle.
"But now wait a minute Twilight, ain't that just her opinion?" Apple Bloom questioned, more confused about the whole thing than even Snips was.
"Well Apple Bloom, that's the interesting thing about this whole concept. Your opinion and your perspective are the exact same thing!" As Twilight finished her sentence Cheerilees mouth hit the floor, amazed by what she had just heard.
"Now Twilight, I've enjoyed this lesson so far, but if you're going to start teaching my students something that isn't true then I'm going to have to ask you to leave my classroom."
"But Miss Cheerilee I'm not teaching your students something that isn't true. You asked me to teach them what I know about the subject of perspective; as far as I'm concerned perspective and opinion are the same thing. Now if you will excuse me I believe I have a lesson to continue." Twilights face beamed with pleasure at the defiance of a simple filly school teacher but she decided it was a trivial victory and returned to her lesson.
"So Twilight, if I call Scootaloo a filly-fooler is that considered my perspective or my opinion?" Snails asked as he threw a wadded up ball of paper at the orange Pegasus on the far side of the classroom.
"Hey you little twerp, when I get my hands on you I'll make sure you aren't able to throw a paper ball again!" Scootaloo spat out in rage as she jumped across the classroom at Snails.
"Now now calm down," Twilight said as she used her magic to separate Scootaloo and Snails. "To answer your question Snails it is both. I like to think of perspective as the baking of cupcakes and opinion as the cupcakes themselves. One is just a product of the other."
"So, you're saying that we form our opinions based on our perspective of a certain event or person and all of our perspectives are right because we are all unique and different?" Sweetie Belle said as she picked up a pencil in her mouth and began to write.
"That is exactly what I'm saying Sweetie Belle, and I quite honestly could not have worded it any better." Twilight replied with a smile on her face.
"Now hold on fer a sec. Didn't y'all tell us that this whole idea of 'perspective' was 'sposed ta be real tough and that none of y'all older ponies could figure it out?" Apple Bloom asked as suspicion began to build in her tone.
"Well yes, and for all of us older ponies it is still a topic that is debated over and over again. We each believe in perspective and opinion but the ways in which we choose to believe it are completely different from each other."
"So yer tellin' us that yer jus' here teachin' all of us younger ponies yer perspective on perspective?" Apple Bloom asked Twilight, beginning to pry deeper and deeper into the topic.
Twilight was cornered and she knew it. Her whole plan coming into this lesson had been to get the younger ponies of Ponyville to believe her way of thinking was the right one that way when they were older there would be no questioning the difference between perspective and opinion. That plan however was slowly falling apart as Apple Bloom began to catch on to the whole thing, and soon Twilight would have no hope of recovering from this. The only thing she could hope for now was that some form of a miracle would rescue her from this nightmare.
"Well, I for one think Twilights perspective on perspective and opinion is one of the most unique and all around balanced of them all, but it is up to you ponies to decide what your perspective on this topic is." Cheerilee said as she stepped towards the front of the room. "Now, your homework for tonight is to find something around your house and consider your perspective and opinion about it. Don't forget that we're going on a field trip to Sugarcube cornet tomorrow for a tour of the facilities. Make sure you all get lots of rest and I'll see all of you lovely fillies tomorrow."
As the fillies piled out of the cramped school house Twilight stayed behind to have a personal chat with Cheerilee.
"Say Cheerilee, thanks for helping me out back there. Had it not been for you stepping in my whole lesson would have fallen apart right there." Twilight said as she smiled at Cheerilee. "I am curious though, what made you decide to defend my beliefs if they weren't the same as what you believe in?"
"You see Twilight, the fun thing about perspective is that at any moment a pony can change theirs. At the start of class I didn't agree with your opinion on the topic, but as the lesson went on you captured me and brought me in. See Twilight, perspective isn't as concrete as you seem to think it is, it's open and ever changing. you ever think that maybe you're just over thinking the whole concept?"
"Hmmm, me, over think? come now Cheerilee what do you take me for, a philosopher?" Twilight asked sarcastically as she began to laugh.
"No Twilight, but I never really took you for a jokester either." Cheerilee said with a smile.
"Well you know what they say, life is all about perspective."
The End