I want to create a masterpiece. I’m an artist, after all. I grab my paints, and I begin to create. The colours are beautiful. Laid out on a palette before me. But something is wrong. It’s not looking the way that I see it in my head. I discard the canvas and begin again. But the results are even less pleasing. What can I do? And then I see it. Stashed amongst the empty canvasses. Lines and numbers – a legend to guide the colours.
I begin again. This is more like it. I stay within the lines. And the masterpiece begins to appear. Of course, it’s not my own. Not what I saw with my mind’s eye. But does that really matter. I’m making it appear. My hands are applying the paint. My eyes are guiding the process. I am an artist after all.
We live in a world of lines and numbers. Quick fixes to make things happen. It doesn’t matter that I haven’t studied to count myself approved. I’ve read the Ten Keys to Unlock, the Five Days to Success, the Three Things that Will Fix. If I stay within the lines, then my masterpiece will appear. Well perhaps not my masterpiece – but one I’ve built from the lines and numbers.
