Today's 'Dr. Phil-ism'

Why are simple things often made so much harder? Why are obvious things so often completely elusive? We don't seem to take stock of the moment when a hard thing suddenly becomes simple, or when an elusive thing suddenly becomes obvious. [Pause here to consider an example from your own life, if you have one. An example, that is.]

Okay, time's up. For those of you that couldn't think of an example, here's one. Ever try to convince someone of something that you have realized is 'obvious' only to find they can't even accept the proposition, much less see that it is obvious?

Why is that? Well, the answer is simple and obvious (to me, that is). Here's why: people don't understand things because they should; they understand things because they can. I don't know all the reasons why various people at various times can't understand things, even obvious things, but I have learned it isn't always because they lack a proper explanation.

So, it's now obvious to me that it's a waste of time to try to convince people of things that they aren't ready to understand. I'm sure that was already obvious to many of you and you are saying: well, that's so obvious, why is he just learning this now? Yep, that's right. Just mark me as Exhibit A and move to have me admitted into the record.