Rule #1:
The Man Who Ironed His Map
I once met a man who ironed his map. He wasn't trying to remove creases. He was trying to remove uncertainty. Every morning he would spread the map across the table and carefully smooth it flat. “There,” he would say. “Everything is where it should be.” It made him very happy. Roads were roads. Towns were towns. Borders stayed neatly between the lines. Nothing appeared likely to surprise him.
Unfortunately, the world had other ideas. One afternoon he arrived at a crossroads that was not on his map. He examined the crossroads carefully. Then he examined the map. Then he ironed the map again. The crossroads remained stubbornly present.
Over the following weeks the situation deteriorated. New paths appeared. Old roads changed direction. People told stories that did not fit the geography. One cottage seemed to occupy three different locations simultaneously depending on who was describing it.
The man grew increasingly distressed. “These things are not on the map,” he complained. “That is because they are in the world,” I explained. He did not find this helpful. By the time I left, he was carrying an iron everywhere. Whenever reality disagreed with his map, he attempted to smooth reality into a more acceptable shape. This rarely worked.
I sometimes think many people are doing the same thing. They discover a map that explains the world and then become so fond of the map that they stop looking at the world. This is understandable. Maps are tidy. The world remains gloriously untidy.
Personally, I have found that uncertainty travels surprisingly well. It folds neatly into a pocket and weighs very little. Besides, there is always something happening beyond the edge of the map.
Which brings us naturally to: Sigi's Rule No. 1: There is always something happening in the margins. The man with the iron never understood this. The margins upset him. That was unfortunate. The margins were where all the interesting things were happening.
✒️ Sigi