EMBARASSING EPIPHANY

By Diane Southam

It was parents' open evening at my infant school in Slough. I was five years old. The teacher asked me to stand in front of the class and hold up my rather splendid picture for parents and classmates to admire. I felt so proud.

Suddenly everyone was laughing at me and I couldn't understand why. Wasn't I holding the picture up as the teacher had asked? I felt upset and confused. The laughter continued until finally my giggling teacher pointed out that because my picture was facing me I was the only person in the room who could see it. A disturbing Aha Moment followed: other people – including my parents and my teacher – didn't see the world as I saw it! Perception was a personal matter. Life was never the same again.

Nevertheless, I'm grateful I had my embarrassing epiphany. Over the years it's enabled me to feel a teeny bit of sympathy for all those grown-ups out there who continue to believe that theirs is the one and only reality.