THE BEST ADVICE I’VE EVER SEEN for any endeavor was in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’ The King said to the White Rabbit, “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end, then stop.” How could it be any simpler? It doesn’t matter what activity you’re talking about; this easy maxim applies. Of course, it helps if you know what you’re doing. I brought my new computer home recently and it took me two days to figure out how to make the sound work. Where’s the beginning? Obviously, finding the starting line that leads to sound wasn’t jumping out of my playbook. Some things can be more challenging than you think. But still, I’m on my way. The true beginning, one might argue, was when I walked into the computer store, pointed, and said “I’ll take that one.” Most things in life are kind of like following a recipe: you have certain known ingredients, stipulated amounts (two tbsp of this, one cup of that, etc.), you mix it all together nicely, shove it in the oven, and set the timer. Of course, I recognize that some things are more complicated than can be adequately covered in simple directions, like sex or baseball. But that’s what makes life interesting, right? For something to work right, perhaps there’s more to it than sticking part A into part B.
Hello HenryM.
Thank you for an interesting and (for the most part) accurate perspective upon approaching most endeavours. However, your question: “Where’s the beginning?” surely throws the whole simplistic maxim into question. The beginning for one person might be completely different to that for another.
As a psychologist the maxim we needed to work from was to always start where the client/patient was (even though we might have known that many of their problems stemmed from their childhoods).
The point being, that when trying to join someone on ‘their’ journey, our ‘beginning’ becomes where we find them on their journey. Where we go to from there gets much more complicated, as it depends on such a wide variety of different factors.
With everyday things, I tend to fall back on the cliché: ‘When all else fails – read the instructions!’
However, nowadays there are either no instructions, they are in Chinese, or they consist of indecipherable pictures that are almost impossible to understand.
Maybe there is a growing conspiracy to make sure most people have a need to employ (pay for) ‘specialists/professionals’ for almost everything and anything the wish to do. (Including sex and thinking.)
Best wishes
Bill
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Thanks for your response, Bill. You're right, of course. But nail down accuracy is rarely my goal in these short little squibs. I'm just trying to be a trifle provocative and entertaining.
This explains my journey in today's world as a senior citizen.
Starting point - Like Alice, I have been falling into rabbit holes (technology, etc).
Ending point - The only way out is to hire someone who can help.
Hello again HenryM.
My response to your post or any other posts is not in any way meant to be critical. Indeed, if you were pedantically accurate in every detail, then it would leave little room for any response at all. I just hope you keep posting in your usual way, so that my 'little grey cells' might be prompted into action.
Best wishes
Bill