Photo credit: wjklos

Photo credit: wjklos

I heard a story about Christopher Columbus when I was about 6 years old. It had nothing to do with crossing the ocean, or the Nina, Pinta, or Santa Maria, or with the world being flat. I do have some vague jumbled memories of all those things, but this is the story that has stuck with me for 40-odd years

Columbus is at a dinner party when he holds up a raw egg. “Can any one of you guests,” he says, “make this egg stand on end using nothing more than your wits and what’s on this table?” The guests puzzle over it, try it and fail. After they give up, Columbus pours a pile of salt on the table, and stands the egg up in the pile. When he blows away the salt, the egg remains standing. “But that’s easy!” protests one of the guests, indignant. “Of course it’s easy,” states Columbus mildly. “Once shown how.”

I use this story in my own life two different ways. Often, there are times I don’t know how to do something. Once someone shows me how, it’s easy. Getting over my fear of looking stupid before asking is often the hardest part of the process. But the other way I use the story is for those times when there is no known solution. What to do? Forge a path, figure it out, come up with a solution that has beauty and elegance and looks like it was the easiest thing in the world. Then blow away the salt, and watch what happens.