Years ago teaching my daughter to drive in our old stick-shift Volvo, we went out for her first nighttime drive. Then it started to drizzle. On the outskirts of a city so bright it can be seen from space, the lane markings on this one unlit little road slowly disappeared under a reflecting sheen of water.

Lights flickered everywhere except for where my daughter needed them to be.

“Dad! I can’t tell where the road is!”

I pointed calmly at a reflector on the side of the road. “Look for the little clues.”

That’s all I had to say. She got it immediately.

Those little clues are the ‘canon’ that guide us. It can take time to find our personal canon, but once we do, all the rest are fluff, bother, and fill. Some we can use. Most we can safely ignore. And after that it’s just a matter of verifying that the ones we are using continue to accurately reflect the true road.

The trouble comes from assuming that others will judge us uninformed if we happen to miss the light illuminating what they think is important. And that’s a matter of confidence in oneself. Not caring if you look ignorant to others, because you know you’re not, and you’re not afraid to ask questions about what you don’t know.

Age helps immensely in that endeavor!

Thanks for the read!