The sound and feel of gold

One of my favorite poems is by Stephen Crane.

A man saw a ball of gold in the sky,

He climbed for it,

And eventually he achieved it -

It was clay.

Now this is the strange part:

When the man went to earth

And looked again,

Lo, there was the ball of gold.

Now this is the strange part:

It was a ball of gold.

Aye, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold.

It is a great statement about appearances versus reality.  It also has an application about discernment. Unfortunately, there have been times when I bought into appearances and let discernment go by the wayside.  Fortunately, good judgment is based on experience, and experience is based on bad judgment.  Now discernment is part of my experience.

When I was in school I used to have a teacher that gave tests about the logic of statements.  He would have these possible multiple choice answers: A) True; B) False; C) Part A is true, B is false; D) Part A is false, Part B is true; E) Statement is true, underlying premise is false.  At the time I hated these tests.  But it has helped so very much in life and in my life's work.  People tend to seek their own advantage at the expense of others, so they deal in answer choices C), D), and E) most of the time, making discernment a necessary tool to the successful navigation of life. 

There is a certain sound and feel to the real gold in life.  Hollow is easy to detect these days.  Clay can be sized up in a hurry.  And even though golden opportunities don't come around often, I know them when I see them and tightly grip them so they don't escape.