I should have known better than to ask Frank for tips on trout fishing, something that I was about to try for the first time in my life while on a family vacation in northern New Mexico. He was a college associate dean, a long-time engineering faculty member, a fly fisherman and irascible. I asked anyway.

“Fluid mechanics,” he said with a …well, you know what kind of grin. Then he left my office and returned to his.

He was absolutely right as it is fluid mechanics that explains the flow of the water, the movement of the fly and line through the air, the whirlpools and eddies under which trout hide and so on. I admit to having his words in mind as I fished a few days later and tried to apply his answer to what I was experiencing.

We stayed at a property that had been owned by a family for a long time, before the Indian tribes arrived, according to our host. I asked him for fishing tips, too, and his reply was also accurate: “What the fish are eating.”

Both men’s responses were true and led to solutions and enough success to be fondly remembered. They were accurate, if not immediately actionable, and they required some study. I wanted easy solutions; they provided moments to learn and apply the lessons. Instead of responding with “do this..” they gave me a factual statement to think about, after which I could take action.

Their lessons were good ones. The story occurred 40 years ago and I remember the men and their guidance clearly.

Perhaps the world today is too focused on having answers that provide a few, clear, easy-to-understand (and complete) steps that guarantee success to whatever challenge is being faced. There is value in answers that are accurate yet require thought and comprehension before application. There is value in the search for answers, the sifting through of information to find that which best applies to the situation in which you find yourself.

There is a tremendous difference between instructions and guidance; the former is “do these things” and the latter requires our own thought and problem-solving skills to be applied; the former provides answers, the latter provides wisdom. There is a time and a place for both, but perhaps we should seek, and provide, guidance more often than instructions.

Stay current on my weekly musings from The Year of 70: Decades of Joy and Thanks.