“There is a way of looking at life called ‘keeping things in
perspective.’ This simply means ‘making yourself feel better by
comparing the things that are happening to you right now against other
things that have happened at a different time, or to different people.’
For instance, if you were upset about an ugly pimple on the end of your
nose, you might try to feel better by keeping your pimple in
perspective. You might compare your pimple situation to that of someone
who was being eaten by a bear, and when you looked in the mirror at your
ugly pimple, you would say to yourself, ‘Well, at least I’m not being
eaten by a bear.’
You can see at once why keeping things in perspective rarely works
very well, because it is hard to concentrate on somebody else being
eaten by a bear when you are staring at your own ugly pimple.”
-Lemony Snicket from The Wide Window, A Series of Unfortunate Events
