| It was day three of an intense backpacking trip through Yosemite. My friends and I were exhausted and ready to set up camp for the night, but knew we needed to persevere for just a few more miles to keep up with our scheduled route.
My friend Peyton, holding the trail map, said confidently:
“Don’t worry guys. Just around this bend, it’s downhill the rest of the way.”
This was an encouraging comment; however, I had already heard him make this remark two other times. And both times, we somehow found ourselves gaining more elevation. I knew better than placing my hope in this statement a third time. To nobody’s surprise, we went around the bend, and again: the trail in front of us continued going up.
We had been depending on this map for several days, but it only told part of the story. It was reliable for general directions, but not for understanding elevation changes.
In a similar way, there are financial roadmaps everywhere. And many of them can be useful.
However, they can’t tell the full story. |
