I was sitting at my birthday dinner Saturday night when my son got a text from my other son that said “Trump’s been shot.” He read it out loud and my heart sank. I immediately began Googling and shortly I found that it wasn’t as tragic as it could have been. The Lord definitely had his loving arms around Donald Trump and although it was tragic for the man killed protecting his family as well as the other two injured men, it could have been so much worse.

I’ve been fretting for weeks about turning seventy. The number “70” seems so much older than the number “69”. But it’s only one day. But the perception is that I’m a year older because the number changed. And the Great Hunter and I are now in the same decade, at least for another ten months.

Speaking of perceptions, after the tragic shooting, many people were seeking answers as to how this could have happened and how it should have been prevented. Fingers are pointed at the Secret Service and local law enforcement accusing them of incompetence and calling for the resignation of the head of the Secret Service.

One man who I worked with for many years posted a photo on his Facebook page of one of the female Secret Service Agents. This photo, which has since been deleted from his page, showed a photo of this female agent bent slightly at the waist and appearing to be behind the dais. He commented that she was being cowardly and “50 dollar bet she goes out on a ptsd claim within a year.” He made a comment also that she was too inept to holster her gun as she struggled with the bottom of her suit jacket blocking her holster, all the while keeping her eyes on the perimeter. Another more disturbing comment was made on the feed by a friend of the original poster: “from the words of the great Gunnery Sgt Hartman, “disgusting fat body”!

I was so disturbed about his perception of this agent as his comments seemed to be based strictly on her gender and body size (and this case, it would be a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black), that I spent some time going through photographs and videos of the incident to see if his perception was valid. This is what I found:

What I saw (and ultimately what I perceived) is she is down on the dais with the other agents, she is climbing over the corner of the dais and she is standing guard outside the limo door.

Nothing I saw in these photographs gave me the feeling that she was a “coward, inept or a “fat body.” It was all in the photographs and videos that were perceived by the viewer. Why this man felt it necessary to single out this officer I’ll never know, but what I wonder is, what was his perception of me all the years we worked together?

This photo of Prince William was taken in April 2018 after the birth of his third child, Prince Louis. It is a perfect example of perception and why we should be cautious of what judgments we make based only on what we see and more importantly when we express them. One point of view seemingly shows Prince William “giving the finger” to the crowd and another advantage point shows he is actually holding up three fingers for the number of children he now has.

What we perceive is not always the truth. Maybe I perceived this man’s intentions incorrectly, but maybe not.