Have you ever really thought about perspective?
There’s a saying:
“If you ask the grass, the zebra is the monster and the lion is the protector.”
At first, it sounds backwards.
We’ve been taught that the lion is dangerous.
That the zebra is innocent.
But that’s only one version of the story.
Because the lion is just surviving.
The zebra is just surviving too.
And the grass?
The grass is experiencing something completely different.
All its life, it’s being stepped on.
Eaten.
Destroyed without a second thought.
To the grass, the zebra isn’t harmless…
it’s a force of destruction.
And when the lion comes?
It changes everything.
The same thing that looks dangerous from one angle…
can feel like relief from another.
And just like that, the roles shift.
This isn’t really about animals.
It’s about us.
About how quickly we label things as “good” or “bad”…
without ever questioning where that perspective comes from.
Because truth isn’t always absolute.
Sometimes it’s shaped by experience.
By position.
By what something means to you.
The same person can be a villain in one story…
and a saviour in another.
The same situation can break one person…
and protect another.
And most of the time, we’re only hearing the loudest side.
The most visible version.
The one that’s easiest to understand.
But there are always quieter perspectives.
Unheard ones.
Ones that don’t get the chance to explain themselves.
So before you decide what something is…
pause.
Ask yourself:
Who benefits from this story being told this way?
Who might be hurting in silence?
What perspective am I missing?
The “monster” and the “protector”
aren’t always who they seem.
Sometimes they’re just roles…
shaped by perception, experience, and survival.
And when you begin to see beyond that,
you don’t just understand the world differently…
you move through it differently.
