I Want to Steal your Skin, and You Want Mine

image from Galaxyguy111

Lately the internet has been abuzz with the whole "yellow and gold" or "blue and black" debate (it's proven to be blue and black here at Computerphile and at Wired Magazine). This whole thing, the constant arguments with friends and classmates over this silly topic, got me thinking about how others might see the world.
Though not professional (yet), as a writer I have to look from the point of view of many other characters: from a homeless man on the street to a love struck teen to a patient with terminal cancer. Sure, sometimes research is needed because one's imagination can only do so much. But no matter what, you need to try and understand something from another human's perspective.
It's a difficult thing to do though. Even when you're developing a character, there might be something that's just a little bit off that makes them "inhuman". Someone who has been raped would not generally react to any form of touching in the same way as a flirtatious bachelor(ette).  Someone who has experienced a selfish world would not view life in the way of an altruist. I could go on but I think I've made my point.
I don't think it's possible to perfectly see something from another (real life) person's perspective. As Atticus tells his daughter Scout in How To Kill A Mockingbird

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Only after seeing how people treat that one person, only after knowing all of their life's experiences, do you know why that person is the way they are. It's something that I constantly remind myself when I feel a conflict arising between me and another party. I need to take a breath, and ask myself why the person said what they said. Why they did what they did. And if I am unable to guess, I ask them. I might have said something that they misheard, or I might have misinterpreted them. I'm not a big fan of conflict.
So, I don't know if you see the dress as yellow and gold, or as blue and black, or neither. Either way, we're all human: complex creatures with emotions that can often rise and control our actions. We all have our own story, I don't know yours, you don't know mine, and I'm happy about that.
It makes me feel unique. Special.