I recently snapped this photo of “my polar bear.” Of course, Kali of the St. Louis Zoo isn’t mine, but I enjoy visiting her every chance I get. Most times I’m in St. Louis involve a brief pit stop to go in the zoo’s north entrance, make a beeline to Kali’s pen (and most recently, see the new grizzlies along the way), take a few photos and check on her, then leave the zoo and continue my day.

On my most recent visit, I snapped a variety of photos that struck me because of their distortion. For example, this one looks as if Kali’s head is displaced from her body. It obviously isn’t.

Sometimes what we see is a distortion. Reality still exists, but we can’t quite see if for what it is. We can explain distortions. And when we become really good at it, we can actually shift our explanations into reality – or what we rationalize as reality.

Not every distortion is obvious, hence, the misleading component to distortion.

• “Well, that’s at least possible.”
• “I don’t see how that could be wrong.”
• “I sort of like that better anyway.”

Distortions in and of themselves don’t seem odd. We need the correct image in order to identity when that image is distorted. We need to know where we are headed and who is leading us before we can identify the “mis” part of misleading. We all want to believe our perspective is right, but there is always room for more clarity and humility.