Trapped in a maze of snow? Who isn’t? – SCN Encourager 1/23/2014

A brilliant person offers us this advice.

And don’t worry, this is the real deal.

This isn’t some dubious tip swiped off the internet.

This gem comes from a more credible source — Parade Magazine.

You know it.

It’s the thin 16 page magazine insert that comes inside our Sunday newspaper.

Usually it’s sandwiched between the inserts for Best Buy and Art Van.

(How ’bout that?  The SCN Encourager isn’t the only thing that’s predictable!)

To test my wits, I always check out the column by Marilyn vos Savant.

She’s holds a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for “Highest IQ.”

Her column is called “Ask Marilyn.”

A school communicator could’ve thought up something with a little more zip, no doubt, but Marilyn’s a card carrying member of Mensa Intl’ and the Mega Society, so she probably knows what she’s doing.

At any rate, she hasn’t felt the need to write into “Ask Tom.”

I like to read the questions people send her way; although I wonder if these folks actually sign their real names.

I’m not sure I could sign my name at the bottom of a letter to a certified smart person that basically says, “Hi there. You’re intelligent and thoughtful. Please answer a question that has me and all of my friends, family, and co-workers completely baffled.”

I may not be all that bright, but I do have some pride.

But I’m glad someone wrote in a couple of weeks ago and asked Marilyn about the best way to escape from a maze.

I’ve been saving her answer until today.

It seems like every time MASA has its Mid-Winter Conference, there is a snow emergency of some kind or another.

So this year, I’m ready to “shovel out” Marilyn’s advice for negotiating your way out of a maze of deep snow.

Marilyn said that if you’re entering a maze and want to get to its end, don’t start zig-zagging or aimlessly moving about back-and-forth.

You want to keep your bearings.

You want to choose a wall – either the one on your left or the one on the right – and place your hand on it.

Then begin moving with your hand on the wall.

If you stay consistently “left” or “right” while you move, you’ll eventually arrive at the end of the maze no worse for wear.

I hope this knowledge comforts you as you battle the weather.

It wasn’t all that easy for me to get.

Marilyn always forces people like me to turn the magazine upside down and read the answers found in the tiny print down at the bottom.

Tom Page, SCN