Errors of Misdirection

I would consider myself a pretty skilled navigator. Before I learned to drive my dad used to get in the car with me and then tell me that I had to give him directions on where we were going. Even if it was somewhere we had been a hundred times he would make me give him directions to get there. As a result I can give pretty concise and accurate directions. This is not always helpful to people who don't know which direction is north or south. I took a trip this weekend with a friend and as the front passenger I was tasked with the navigation. There came a point however when it was obvious that we were lost. We had been given to different sets of instructions to our destination, neither or which were faulty. The problem that made us go 20 miles past our turnoff was a lack of signage. At no point were we aware that we had even passed through the town that contained our turnoff. In both directions there was no indication that the two houses and one country store even was considered a town. Luckily for us one of the directions had included which mile marker to look for and we were able to backtrack enough to find our way again. My friend who pointed out that in this particular instance I had led us all astray and maybe my sense of direction was not as great as I thought. The experience made me think of a couple of quotes:

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.
-- Dr. Seuss


I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you're headed for a cliff, you have to change direction.
-- Barack Obama



The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
--Chanakya