From Confusion to Clarity—With a Little Help from Garth Brooks

Over New Year’s, my family and I went on a cruise.
On this particular day, the port was Cozumel.

The sun was out.
The water was clear.
The beach was largely empty.

Life was good.

Then my phone rang.

It was my mother-in-law.
She was spiraling.

“Are you guys okay?” she asked, out of breath.

She had just seen breaking news about Nicolás Maduro being captured in Venezuela, and she wanted to make sure we were safe.

I told her we were fine.
Great, actually.

Far from imminent danger.

“Well,” she said, “I know those places are really close together.”

Aha.

I realized this wasn’t about Venezuela.
It was about geography.

I explained that we were well over a thousand miles north of Venezuela.

“We’re in Cozumel,” I said. “Mexico.”

Pause.

“Well, I know,” she said. “But Mexico is in Central America, which is right above South America.”

Now, cautious to avoid being the worst form of son-in-law—a disrespectful wiseass—I walked her through it.

Along with Canada and the U.S., Mexico is part of North America. Hence NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I did a quick search and shared what I found: The countries comprising Central America stretch roughly 2,500 miles from top to bottom.

“Okay,” she said. “I can never remember all the countries in Central America. I always get them mixed up.” 

That’s when I asked her an important question: “Are you open to a ridiculous acronym?”

She said yes.

Being a Garth Brooks fan, I knew she had a shot at memorizing this.

“Garth Brooks Eats Hard Nuts on the Coast of Panama.”

Silence.
Then laughter.

“What now?” she said.

“Garth Brooks Eats Hard Nuts on the Coast of Panama,” I repeated. “If you can remember that, you can recite the Central American countries in order, top to bottom.”

She repeated it as a question.

“Garth Brooks Eats Hard Nuts on the Coast of Panama?”

And then it clicked.

Guatemala.
Belize.
El Salvador.
Honduras.
Nicaragua.
Costa Rica.
Panama.

Garth Brooks Eats Hard Nuts on the Coast of Panama. 

In five minutes, she had completed several laps around this silly sentence.

And now she’ll never forget it.

So why am I telling you this?

Because clarity matters.
Context matters.

And sometimes, the difference between panic and peace is simply understanding where things are actually situated on a map.

We’re surrounded by misleading headlines and misinformation.

A little orientation—geographic or otherwise—can go a long way.

And if a ridiculous acronym helps?

All the better. 

(See the map below. You’re welcome.)

Thanks for reading.
We’ll see you back here in two weeks. 

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