We Can’t See the Forest for the Trees

Have you ever really thought about that phrase?

Look at the photograph: what do you see? Trees? You’re no alone.

I’m not sure if it’s been programmed in, or it is just the way we’re made: given an expanded view rattles us, so we zero in on some smaller part of the picture. The tree trunks are the most immediate things, the closest items to our vision. So we focus on them. But in doing so, the forest is forgotten, except as an organizing principle.

I guess most of us are myopic. Other, more long-sighted, individuals keep in mind the bigger picture. We need them to keep reminding us about what we’re missing.

We are all in this together! Together, we are the forest, not just a bunch of trees.