“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign”
- The Five Man Electrical Band

Lately I’ve been getting song lyrics stuck in my head a lot. Maybe I’ve been spending too much time listing to music lately. I often find a considerable amount of wisdom hidden within the lyrics of many songs. Today I’m thinking about signs – and yes its because I have that song stuck in my head!

When we drive there are all kinds of signs and most of them are color coded to make it even easier for people to recognize the signs and the types of information they are trying to convey. You might be too far away to actually read a sign, but if you see an orange, diamond shaped sign on the side of the road you know it is trying to warn or caution you. Of course, here in Illinois it almost always means road construction so the only real reason to read the sign is to make sure the lane you are currently in is the one that is about to end!

It seems to me that life provides us with signs in life as well. The problem is that too many people ignore these signs the way they ignore speed limit signs.

A prime example of a sign would be stairs. If you find after you walk up a flight of stairs you are winded, or your joints hurt, or you are light-headed then stairs are a big warning sign. This warning sign is telling you that you are out of shape and are about to have some serious health issues to contend with if you don’t take some action. But don’t worry, everyday I see people take the elevator instead. These people are ignoring a sign warning them of future problems.

Another example of a sign would be your checkbook. When was the last time you balanced your checkbook? Did you know there is an amazing percentage of our population who regularly do not balance their checkbook? Not surprisingly, these people often have money problems. They have money problems because they are avoiding the warning sign of a checkbook that doesn’t balance. With online banking it is possible to balance your checkbook everyday, although I think this would be a sign of a different type of problem!

Maybe your clothes don’t fit as well as they used to may be a sign that you have had too much to eat over the holidays. Maybe you don’t talk to your spouse or certain friends as much as you used to. This is normally an important sign. Unfortunately, like most really important signs, it is often ignored.

A sign that often goes with clothes not fitting is when that exercise equipment you bought to get into shape functions as an extra clothes rack. Clothes neatly hanging on hangers that are draped over handle bars of exercise bikes is a sign that you like to buy new clothes better than you like doing something about fitting into the clothes you already have.

The fact that my daughter can now reach the top of the refrigerator without standing on a step stool is a sign that she is growing. The more subtle sign is that the way I talk to her and treat her had better match her age and behavior. I often wonder if the reason many parents can’t talk to their children is because they talk to their children in a way that is no longer appropriate. By the time those children become teenagers, those teenagers are learning to dismiss what their parents say because, “my parents treat me like a child.”

If you really want a lesson about reading signs, read any Sherlock Holmes mystery. Holmes was a master of reading subtle signs that everyone around him missed. One of my favorite Sherlock Holmes mysteries is “The Adventure of Silver Blaze” in which a famous race horse is stolen just before a big race. The key to solving the entire mystery hinged on the fact that the dog did not bark. You see, the dog did not bark because it knew the person who took the horse. This sign made it clear to Sherlock Holmes that it was an inside job.

I hope by now you get the point, there are signs all around us. Its up to us to notice the signs and take appropriate action. I wise man once told me that awareness of your environment is the best defense.

For what its worth, it seems to me that in order to be aware of what is going on around you, don’t you have to be able to read the signs?

What do you think?
Please feel free to post your comments below.