“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”   Henry David Thoreau

“That depends on your perspective” is a phrase used to explain how different people can see the same thing yet come up with very different explanations. The word “perspective” is one of those English words that means so many different things in so many different situations: to the artist, perspective is the relationship between objects. To the writer, it is the vantage point of the main character or narrator. In mathematics, it involves the world of geometry. To the philosopher, perspective may mean a person’s mental view or picture of the world. Ironically, the meaning of the word perspective depends upon…your perspective!

“In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we might better understand ourselves.”   Ellen Langer

The question of perspective is everywhere in our lives. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Is the glass twice as large as it needs to be? Will your perspective change as you grow older? How is the perspective of a child different from the perspective of a parent?

2009 marks the 20th year of the Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance eXceL Awards, and is an appropriate time to encourage Indiana high school students to examine things from different perspectives and express them in one of six categories: 2-D art, 3-D art, music, performance art, video art and writing.

From your perspective, how have things changed in the last 20 years? How will things be different 20 years from now? More importantly, what is the effect of the past on your perspective, and how will your perspective color your future?

Please review the information you find online carefully, as you are accountable for the rules and guidelines of the competition.