Tunnel Vision

I have noticed that some people can only sing one note. Some people can only see one thing. Some people have no array of interests, no broad selection of tools at their fingertips, no wide number of topics they can talk about, and no flexibility to take "No" for an answer.

Some people have tunnel vision.

Take, for example, the faculty member who relates everything in every committee to inadequate compensation.  You could be talking about the blue sky, and he would remark that it would be bluer if the compensation were fixed so that he was paid $20,000 more. (Seriously. He doesn't see the problem in referring to how it will affect him personally.)  Even when enrollment is down and budget cuts underway, this poor chap continues to beat the drum that the pay structure must be fixed. Now. I find myself wondering if he imagines that we tied him down and threatened him with waterboarding if he didn't sign his contract.

Another guy advocates a scheme whereby investors will make a load of money off of Washington state dollars if they will just buy solar panels for $15,000 apiece and sign into a "green plan" for the next eight years. He urges everyone around him to sign on to the plan, although the funding is so complicated, people remark that they still don't understand it after hearing about it three times. He continues to present to whoever will put him on the agenda. This, even though the state is cutting dollars to schools so severely that teachers at the local elementary school must use their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms. The funding for green energy may well dry up any minute, but we're repeatedly encouraged to invest in his project, even after saying we're not in favor of it. This is not to say that solar panels or green energy are not a good idea.

A professor who teaches a particular skill in our college always includes social issues in her upper division courses, even though the skill she's teaching has nothing to do with social issues. Women's rights are always a topic of assigned reading and discussion, as are racial issues. Students get frustrated, writing on their class evaluations, "Just quit using this class as a bully pulpit and teach [the subject] already, please!" Thus far nothing has changed. If the students weren't also learning the skill, the issue would immediately become one of continued employment, rather than advice to change her approach.

"Tunnel vision people" are inflexible and frustrating. Their ability to sing only one note causes people around them to disbelieve their credibility, to tune them out, to actually dislike them. Sometimes you just have this horrible urge to yell, "Shut up and stop it already! You've wasted my time long enough!"

The issue is that, with each of these people, they have good motives at heart. It is a good thing to make sure that people are paid a fair wage, and can support their families. It is a good thing to tap into green energy where and when we can. It is a good thing to take care of social justice issues, to treat others as valuable human beings regardless of gender, race, and so on. The problem arises when you try to accomplish your objectives by using just one method.

I admire those who are flexible enough to choose a different route to achieve their worthy objectives when one is not working well. Are you hitting resistance? Why? Could you bring others to your cause in other ways they can feel good about? Could you even adjust your cause a little bit so that it satisfies your concerns and at the same time becomes attractive to others?  Is it possible to sing different notes and still produce the kind of music you hoped for? Can you step out of the tunnel and see a broader landscape?  Could you try a different perspective and actually find a solution when you are at cross purposes with someone you value?

I have been mulling over tunnel vision lately, not only because of these case studies, but also because I've noticed that aging tends to make tunnel vision more likely, and I don't want to become an old person who is narrow and frustrating. Just as frustrating as the younger people I described above.  Somehow I have gotten the idea that if I think about this while I'm younger and more open, I can plan in ways that will prevent tunnel vision as I age.

Or might there be some tunnel vision I need to address right now?  Hmmm.