“Alacrity” is defined as a “brisk and cheerful readiness, an excited willingness and eagerness to proceed.”

In a sentence, it might appear as follows: “With fulsome delight and focused demeanor, the alacrity of the investigator to accomplish the client’s desires was both admirable to observe and rewarding to the outcome of the case.”

“Please proceed with alacrity, Watson.” Sherlock Holmes announces to his friend. “The game is afoot. Do you have your revolver?”

If there ever was one with alacrity in pursuit of a dangerous criminal, who was also perspicacious and sagacious in his approach and analysis, it was that detective with the Inverness cape coat, deerstalker hat and poised magnifying glass.

“Perspicacious” means “to be observant and perceptive.” A synonym (another word in the same family of meaning) to perspicacious is sagacious. “Sagacious” means to be “smart and judicious.” Perspicacious and sagacious go hand in hand.

It takes a perspicacious individual to see the facts surrounding a mysterious occurrence (observant) and to identify the relationships of those facts to the unwinding of the riddle (perceptive), but it requires a sagacious individual of heightened intelligence to sort those facts and perceptions (smart), an individual who also possesses the gift of wisdom to select the right course of action (judicious), to devise the trap to capture the perpetrator before the evil act is done.

However, an individual can be both perspicacious and sagacious and still allow the villain to escape. To catch a crook, when the time comes to act, the pursuer must do so with alacrity. Certainly, a good detective must be both perspicacious and sagacious, but a great detective acts with alacrity when the time for action has arrived — when the game is afoot.

Would we all be as perspicacious and sagacious in our evaluation of that which matters most to us as Detective Holmes, and, when the time comes to take action on whatever our plan may be, may we act with the alacrity of the quick-paced Sherlock having on our face a wiry smile and in our mind a confident determination.

A good mind without alacrity can write a good report, but it will never be quick enough to catch the crook, enjoy the chase and win the case.

Be ready to act and don’t delay when the time is right and act you must,

Grandpa Jim