"Do you have a Zans for cans?"

Oh Dr. Seuss, how I wish I had a Zans for cans. For 8 months I've been fighting with a can opener that seems quite good at chewing the labels off of cans but not good at actually OPENING CANS! Arrh.

Recently, feeling inspired to make some chili, I resigned myself to the fact that I'd first have to open cans, many, many cans. Part way through the can butchering experience, I started thinking about how often things work backwards here. Throw your "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" out the window, it will get you nowhere. Then I started to wonder what would happen if I turned the can opener handle the opposite way, an idea so against my years of conditioning that I never considered the possibility that it could turn the opposite direction. Wouldn't you know it, the can was sliced open with relative ease.

Oh the object lessons that can occur in daily life. It's funny how something as simple as a can opener needing turned the opposite direction can be a reminder of stubbornness, blindness, and pride. While there are certainly things worth persistence despite the frustrations and setbacks that will be encountered, there are other things worth throwing out because pursuing them would be as silly as taking 8 months to figure out how to use a can opener.