Picture a brand new house with perfectly clean windows. Every surface gleams without a single streak or smudge. That’s how you started life. You saw the world clearly, without filters, without preconceived judgments. Just pure, unobstructed experience.
But as you grew up, those windows began to collect dust. Every experience left its mark. Every interaction added another layer. Today, when you look out at the world around you, what you see is filtered through decades of accumulated experiences that have shaped your perspective.
How Your Windows Get Clouded
As first responders, you understand better than most how experiences shape perspective. Each call you run, each patient you treat, each scene you witness adds another mark to your window. But it’s not just the job that clouds your view.
These marks come in four main forms:
- Cultural marks from your upbringing and community create patterns on your glass. The family dynamics you experienced, the socioeconomic environment you grew up in, and the values your community emphasized all leave their impression.
- Emotional marks develop from your relationships and personal experiences. Every heartbreak, every triumph, every loss creates streaks across your perception. The way people treated you, the trust that was built or broken, the love you received or missed. All of these experiences filter how you interpret new situations.
- Physical marks emerge from your body’s experiences and the memories it carries. Injuries, illnesses, and even positive physical experiences create their own unique patterns on your windows.
- Spiritual marks form from your beliefs, values, and sense of purpose. Whether rooted in formal religion, personal philosophy, or life principles, these marks influence how you find meaning in your experiences.
The Challenge of Different Views
Some first responders grew up looking through windows that showed them a safe, predictable world. Others looked through windows that revealed danger and uncertainty at every turn. Neither view is wrong. They’re just different windows shaped by different experiences.
Think about your colleagues for a moment. That partner who always seems to overreact to certain types of calls? That supervisor who appears too casual about situations that make you tense? They’re looking through different windows than you are. What you see as an overreaction might be their experience-based caution. What appears as casual indifference might be their way of maintaining emotional equilibrium.
Consider how this plays out on calls. One EMT might approach every domestic violence situation with heightened anxiety because their own childhood was marked by household chaos. Another might remain remarkably calm because their experience taught them to compartmentalize emotional situations. Both responses are shaped by the dust on their respective windows.
Cleaning Windows from the Outside
You can’t clean windows properly from the inside. You have to step outside yourself to gain perspective. This means:
- Looking at your own behaviors from a distance.
When you find yourself having a strong reaction to a particular type of call or situation, step back and examine why. What experiences might be influencing your response? - Trying to see through other people’s windows.
Before judging a teammate’s reaction as too intense or too casual, consider what experiences might have shaped their perspective. The veteran who seems “numb” to pediatric calls might be protecting themselves from accumulated emotional trauma. The rookie who breaks down after their first fatality might be experiencing their first real confrontation with mortality. - Understanding that everyone’s window is clouded differently.
The greatest gift you can give yourself and your colleagues is the understanding that everyone’s perception is filtered through their unique experiences.
Building Better Teams Through Understanding
When you understand that everyone views situations through differently clouded windows, several things happen:
- You stop judging others’ reactions harshly.
Instead of thinking “Why can’t they handle this?” you start wondering “What experience shaped their response?” - You begin understanding different perspectives.
That chief who seems overly concerned about protocol compliance might have experienced consequences from shortcuts early in their career. The paramedic who questions every unusual presentation might have missed something critical once and learned to be more thorough. - You start cleaning your own windows more effectively.
By recognizing your perspective is just one view among many, you become more open to feedback and alternative approaches. - You help others see more clearly.
Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is gently point out when someone’s past experiences might be clouding their judgment in the present situation.
Practical Applications for First Responders
Understanding windows of perception isn’t just theoretical , it has real applications in your daily work:
- During debriefings, recognize that everyone will process the same incident differently based on their experience filters. The call that barely affects one person might deeply impact another, not because they’re weaker, but because their windows show them different aspects of the situation.
- In training scenarios, help newer responders understand that developing perspective takes time. Their windows are still relatively clear, which can be both an advantage (fresh perspective) and a challenge (lack of experience-based intuition).
- When conflicts arise, consider that disagreements often stem from people looking at the same situation through differently clouded windows. Instead of arguing about who’s right, explore why you’re seeing things differently.
- In leadership roles, remember that your team members’ responses to situations are filtered through their individual experiences. Effective leadership means understanding these different perspectives and working with them, not against them.
The Ongoing Process
Cleaning your windows of perception isn’t a one-time task , it’s an ongoing process. New experiences continue to add marks, but awareness allows you to:
- Recognize when past experiences might be influencing your current judgment
- Seek out different perspectives before making important decisions
- Remain open to feedback from others who might see things you’re missing
- Develop empathy for colleagues whose windows show them different views of the same situations
As a first responder, clear perception isn’t just about personal growth, it’s also about being a better responder, a better teammate, and ultimately, a better human being. When you understand that everyone’s window is clouded differently, you can work together more effectively, support each other more compassionately, and serve your community with greater wisdom.
The goal isn’t to have perfectly clean windows. That’s impossible. The goal is to understand how your experiences shape your view, and to respect the different perspectives your colleagues bring to the team.