Clarity Begins at Home

Clarity is essential to happiness and well-being, and I’ll happily step out on a limb to make this assertion. Or, an extension ladder, as is the case today. Today is window washing day.

In addition to washing windows, we are celebrating Bob’s 59th birthday. Birthday week (we prolong the pampering and chocolate cake) inspires me to write about one of Bob’s special talents – Clarity.

When friends come to the back door looking for Bob, I know their footsteps will have more spring to them when they leave because of Bob’s ability to find clarity in any situation. Bob begins by asking questions (another of his special gifts). And, while at first, he seems to be pulling us into a bog, his questions soon lead to solid ground. When the light bulbs begin going off, we see that Bob has done it again. He knows what to leave out, and what to leave in, and his advice is concise and to the point.

Bob tests out as an ENTJ (extraversion, intuition, thinking, judgment) on the Meyers Briggs personality spectrum. This set of traits has been nicknamed Field Marshall, and that fits Bob to a T. Field Marshalls are “good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, marshaling evidence, and at demonstrating their ideas.” They are natural leaders, capable of seeing the whole picture, and pointing out a path forward. Personally, I will follow him anywhere, and we both know it.

The information age has been good for Bob. He now has at his fingertips answers to pretty much any question he or anyone else comes up with. And while you would think easy access to answers would make problem solvers of everyone, it hasn’t. That’s because not everyone has Bob’s talent for deciding which question needs to be answered first. Many of us go to the google and end up chasing information down a quagmire of rabbit holes. It’s Bob’s knack for finding the right path that has earned him guru status among our peers.

These thoughts come into focus for me as I stand on the fourth rung of an aluminum ladder with a bottle of Windex and a washcloth. I spray a pane and wipe at two years of wet, windblown dirt, spider poo, and sometimes little feather fluffs where a bird has smacked into the glass. It looks like I’m making a muddy mess until I take the dry side of the cloth and finish the job. Voila, a clear look at the inside of my house. All looks to be in order. I step down, move the ladder and tackle another one.