Gorillas

I started a new class today.

We were made to watch a video. Before the video started the professor explained that we would be watching 2 teams of kids passing basketballs back and forth. One team would be dressed in white. The other in black. And they would be weaving in and out of each other while passing the ball back and forth to members of their own teams. Our objective was to pay attention to the team dressed in white and count how many times they passed the ball. Thats it.

So the tape played. I counted the ball being passed 19 times.

The professor polled the class on how many times the ball was passed.

Answers varied.

And then he asked us who had seen the gorilla.

What?

There was no gorilla in that video! I didn't see a gorilla in a small game of kids passing a ball!

The professor played the tape again and told us to watch.

The kids were passing the ball for a few minutes...and THEN A DUDE DRESSED AS A GORILLA walked on camera, strutted through the game, stopped in the middle of the group and pounded his chest, and then sauntered out of the group and off camera.

WTF?! lol

Perception is an interesting beast. We were so concerned wih counting the balls being passed that we did not notice the slow moving GORILLA.

And so it is the same with our lives. We get concerned with the day to day details and the workings of whatever is going on..that we can miss these huge other things ( LIKE GORILLAS) that just appear out of nowhere.