Lasso'd

Lasso’d

John Paul Derryberry

There are numerous ways to view the world; pessimist, realist, optimist. We could go deeper and talk through victim culture, viewing everyone as a mark, selfish, defeatist, and add in numerous other ways that people tend to interact with the world. Our view of the world is what we project on others, but it's always more of a reflection of ourselves than the world around us. I tend to believe there are three lenses to distinguish the world through:

1 How we want the world to treat us, 

2 How the world really is, and 

3 How the world should be. 

I tend to operate out of 2 and 3 most of the time, but 1 creeps in there from time to time. We all have our selfish moments. More of us should view it through lens 3, how the world should be and recently through my favorite TV show, "Ted Lasso," I'm starting to understand why. Season 3 of the show has its critics, as the show has people moving through hard life moments quickly because of a well-developed culture of support, care and compassion. The big knock is that the show is becoming too far-fetched to make sense. My push-back against those critics is that the show's team is showing what the world would be like if we interacted with others, with the motivation of making the world act as it should, not as it is. We are confused by Ted Lasso's world of forgiveness, compassion, and search for emotional understanding. The confusion causes us to reject it as too far-fetched to be real. 

Yet, if we all acted the best versions of ourselves a heck of a lot more than we do now, we would have a ton more moments where forgiveness, compassion, and emotional understanding occurs. It doesn't solve all our problems, nor does it remove conflict, but that type of interaction creates a better world. That is what Ted Lasso is attempting to demonstrate. We still have our personal demons to battle, we still have friction in relationships, and we still have to navigate difficult emotions. But when we interact with the idea of what the world should be, we let go of a lot of our own stuff for the sake of others. That's where love happens, connection occurs, and emotional growth blossoms. 

That world has less suffering, more resources spread out among more people, and a heck of lot more people not only tolerating others' views but understanding where they come from. It's a testament to the writers of "Ted Lasso" that their world feels so authentic and the character interactions feel so earned. It's an example of how less we suffer through the bad parts of life when surrounded by people who love us, and want us to get numerous opportunities to figure out life. It's the type of world I hope to live in more often. Yes, we must sometimes interact in the world with the way it is, but I think a lot less than we realize. For this story teller,  I'm looking at the world through lens 3 a heck of a lot more. And ask me how the world should be and I'd answer a lot more like the world of Ted Lasso, not perfect, not always getting the outcome we want, but a world full of compassion, second chances and growth. Even the harshest critics should be rooting for that to come into existence.