Pete Versus the Minivan

About a dozen years ago, my friend Pete asked me to guess what kind of new vehicle he'd just purchased. Pete was obviously very proud of his new acquisition, and I thought hard about what he might have bought. I turned the possibilities over and over in my head, until a flash of insight struck:

"You bought a minivan!" I shouted.

"I didn't buy a minivan," Pete snarled, looking much like he does in the photo above. Actually, he'd purchased a pretty fancy car, just like the one Pierce Brosnan drove in Goldeneye. I think Pete was a little offended by my guess, especially since I'd known him long enough to realize that a minivan was really about the least likely thing he might have bought.

And yet, in that moment, I knew with complete certainty that Pete's new car was a minivan.

I was, of course, absolutely wrong.

Insight and intuition are funny things. Some people depend on them completely. I've used intuition myself. But experiences like this one reinforce my belief that reason, backed up by solid data, is a surer path to knowledge and truth. By no means am I diminishing the power of a sudden revelation - but it's always good to check the facts.