Perspective Drives Decisions

Perspective – (a few definitions from Miriam Websters Dictionary)

-A visible scene.

-The interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed.

-The capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance.

A lesson in perception. Below are numbers gathered by spending mere moments perusing Google. 

• 1.35 million deaths related to car accidents a year. (With laws in place: wearing of seatbelts, dangerous driving – DUI, distracted driving, speeding, etc…)
• 647,000 deaths linked to heart disease. (Medications, lifestyle changes, and decades of knowledge pertaining directly to the heart’s function)
• 407,316 American deaths in World War II (1941-1945)
• 166,152 Covid-19 deaths (Aug 14^th, 2020) (social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantines in place at different levels in different locals)
• 47,434 Battle deaths in Vietnam (1964-1975) 
• 34,200 Flu deaths (2018-2019) (vaccinations, extensive epidemiological knowledge)

I am generalizing, but most individuals will fall into three camps when reviewing these numbers.

            Camp 1:

                        Wow, statistically I am far more likely to die in a car crash then I am of Covid-19. We are making hay out of nothing. Let’s just go back to normal. 

            Camp 2:

                        Wow, 166,152 deaths in 8 months. We have to do better, wear a mask, lockdown, keep kids out of school, etc…

            Camp 3: (The smallest of the camps.)

                        Well how many cars are driven on the road each year?  How many car accidents were there without being fatal? How many of those heart disease deaths were directly related to the individuals choices or poor quality healthcare? How many Americans fought in WWII or Vietnam? How many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in relation to how many deaths?

The numbers above will provide A perspective. However, the plain lay out of just those numbers does nothing to speak towards the complexity of the individual stats. 1.35 million people died in car accidents does not equal 1.35 million car accidents killed someone.  

We live in the Information Age. We carry computers in our pockets with unimaginable searching capacities. Perspective drives decision making. Allowing ourselves to be duped by simplicity merely because we do not want, for it is not lack of availability, to research on our own leads to anger, hurt, misinformation and bad decisions.