Don't You Wonder?

I was standing in line today for a free lunch – provided by the building where I'm currently working, not a soup kitchen – and listening to the conversations around me. Very little work discussion going on, but quite a bit about how slow the line was moving and whether someone should queue up for chicken, a burger, or a hot dog. Or for all three.
   From time to time I glanced at the clouds, which were odd-looking for Los Angeles, especially this time of year. We've been having freaky weather lately. But I noticed that not many other people were noticing the clouds. No one, in fact, seemed to be looking up. Very few people looked out at the street, even, mostly they just watched the guys cooking the food. Which got me to wondering.
   What do other people see?
   I know what I see, obviously, and I know what I tend to notice. But is that what others see and notice? Probably not. Or obviously not, since nobody else seemed to be watching the clouds. But even deeper than that, if you and I look at the same thing, do we actually see the same thing?
   I don't mean if I see a fire hydrant you might see a bouquet of flowers, I mean if I see a red fire hydrant, how is the quality of red I see different than what you see? Assuming neither of us is colorblind or impaired in any fashion, how is the red fire hydrant you see different than mine?
   I know these are experiential philosophical questions people have pondered for a long time, but I am intrigued. Most of human strife is caused by misunderstandings that could be prevented if the two sides only understood one another. Take Robert McNamara's comments on the Vietnam War, for example. Part of understanding someone is trying to walk a mile in their shoes, as it were, trying to see things the way they do. This doesn't mean that the other person has a proper perception and you don't, it just means that when you understand where someone is coming from it's much easier to find common ground.
   What I want to know, though, is what was the guy with neon yellow tennis shoes thinking? Seriously, when is something like that ever a good idea?