Wednesday, there were two groups of people at the office. One group wore boots. The other group did not.

At eleven o’clock, the first few flakes began to fall. By mid-afternoon, a blanket of snow was six inches deep and growing.

What does footwear tell us about our colleagues?

Not a whole lot, actually. At the end of the day, some people went home with cold, wet feet. Others did not.

It’s tempting to draw a circle around that detail and to make assumptions about who prepares, who’s responsible, and who generally knows what’s going on (and the converse).

But really, it only points to that moment, that day, in that situation.

Sometimes we want to tell a full story based on one, small observation.

Good to remind ourselves that in a different moment on a different day … we’d be telling ourselves a different story.