HAVE YOU EVER POLE VAULTED?

Think of a pole vaulter who has to step back far enough to leap forward far enough. That's something like our challenge of change today. To move ahead we have to step back. Not too far, but not too little. Which is exactly how it is with every new generation deciding just how much of the last generation is needed to make the great leap....!

The pages of history are crowded with compelling examples. Governments...armies...religions...schools.... teams ....even your local PTA and sports bar. I was thinking about that as I watched the kids pouring out of classes this afternoon. Each clicking and clacking away at their smartphones. Now imagine their parents getting out of school in their days? How did they function without these amazing little tools? What were the pluses & minuses?

+ They couldn't have their dreamy meanderings through the neighborhood interrupted!
- But then they couldn't be reached for news about a family alert!

+ They couldn't have their intimate conversational efforts to impress Julie or Johnny interrupted!
- But then they would have missed a handy prop to use when they ran out of clever things to say!

+ They couldn't be rushed to their homework, because home couldn't reach them about the lousy homework!
- But then this way they might miss Aunt Emma's surprise visit, and her usual little folding green gift!

+ They couldn't have their fun messing around in the snow interrupted by some silly spam!
- But then they couldn't check their screens to catch sight of the big news flash about their favorite celebrity!

I don't know...I guess it would have been a tie. However, as life turns out, we never get a chance to tally scores like this. All we get to do is catch the wind of change and ride it as best we can. Then, when we're old and fussy enough, we try to make comparisons like this...