What's a five-letter word for pitch?

What's a five-letter word for pitch? Throw? Black? Tone? No, that's four letters. Sound? Resin would work. Maybe erect as in pitch a tent. What about field, like a playing field as they might say in England, or slope or slant as in the angle of something? Could be fling. Could be level, going back to the notion of sound (the pitch of her voice) or amount (...reached a fever pitch). What about a sales pitch; a spiel? Oh, wait. How about heave?

Turns out there are a lot of different ways to define pitch...in five letters, no less! And that got me to thinking.

How often do we think we have figured out someone we don't know based on our first guess? Not only that, how often do we realize that a particular meaning is always based on context? In a crossword puzzle, the right five letters depend on all the other letters around it, so while there may be many correct answers to "what's a five-letter word for pitch," only one fits here and now. (If you do choose to click on the link, scroll, baby, scroll!)

In our current climate of social media, news bites and instant transmission, it is a good lesson for us to take to heart. When you see a person, when you witness an action, or overhear a remark, remember that your first impression is partial. It is one aspect or moment in the continuum of someone's life. It is not the whole by any means. You need more information, more context, before you can begin to draw any sort of an accurate or complete picture of what is before you.

Just as taking a breath (or two, or ten) to settle yourself is a healthy practice, knowing that you are witnessing a mere moment in time is a good reminder that there is much more to a person or situation than you are seeing now.

Take a breath. And another. Don't judge yet. Listen. Ask. Assess. Be open, be patient and take another breath.