What's Your Fancy?

Ah, Such Choices ...

What's Your Fancy?

It would be great if you got to choose. I mean, imagine if, at different times in your life, someone handed you a menu of futures and said, "What's your fancy?"

OK, that person might not say, "What's your fancy?" I mean, I guess not very many people actually say, "What's your fancy?" But I think it's a perfectly good question. It has a nice balance and a nice lilt to it, and more people should definitely be saying it.

Try it for yourself. Go ahead.

"What's your fancy?"

See. It's a very positive question ... heart-warming almost ... like a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top. It's not like saying, "What's your problem?"

"What's your problem?" — now that's a whole different ball of wax. Lots of angst sitting in that question. If someone asks you, "What's your problem?", then there's definitely some trouble brewing. Either you really do have a problem, or you're about to find one. Either way, it can't be good.

The real "problem" is that we make so many choices based on a problem and too few choices based on a fancy.

From the time we are very young, we learn to avoid the problem.

That schoolyard bully and his gang of wannabe bullies? Problem. Take the long way home.

Mom and Dad screaming at one another in the kitchen? Problem Stay in your room.

Algebraic functions? Problem. Study English and Sociology.

Someone comes into the Convenience Store and starts flailing a gun in the air? Problem. Hide behind the Slurpee Machine.

Avoiding the problem becomes our way of solving the problem. And why not? That's what life teaches us to do.

Some people actually love a good problem. In fact, if they're not working on one of their own, they'll be more than happy to come over and work on yours. After all, "that's what friends are for."

No friends? Well, then you can join a group of like-problemed people — Alcoholics Anonymous, Weight Watchers, The Catholic Church — ah, the range of possibilities is almost endless. Worse case scenario? Hire a professional problem-solver — a psychiatrist or a psychologist — someone with a license to teach you how to avoid problems.

The point is that we have enough problem-solvers in the world.

What we need are fancy-solvers.

Imagine what it would be like if, when you went to work tomorrow, your boss said, "What do you fancy working on today?" instead of "I really need you to get on this or that problem."

Imagine what it would be like if, when you got home from work, someone were there with a smile on his or her face who said, "What's your fancy?" instead of grumbling, "What's for dinner?"

We need people who open doors and windows, who let some fresh air fill our sails, who create endless possibilities in how we imagine ourselves and the course of our lives in the future.

So ... let me say it for you today, "What's your fancy?"