When Modernization Leaves You Behind

(I just found the unpublished draft for this sitting here since last fall!)

In the old days, cropping looked like this:

I know because in high school and college I used a tool pretty much like this. It was orange, and all the parts were plastic. I got callouses on my fingers from tightening and loosening the plastic knobs. The Yearbook staff would do this to every single photo that went into the yearbook. EVERY SINGLE PHOTO. We'd mark the corners with an equally orange grease pencil, then drop them into an envelope and send them off to the publisher. Alas, progress happened. We are now in the digital age and cropping is done with clicks of a mouse.

As Fran and I drove around Maine last week, we saw town after town with half of Main street shuttered. Clearly a sign of the times, and a scene that can probably be found anywhere in the United States. I'm sure like me, you often see these storefronts and get nostalgic for the days when these places were bustling. In the case of most of Maine, the deserted towns have resulted from the loss of papermills and logging industries. Paper has given way to virtual documents and publications. Coastal areas tend to be better off because they have the ocean for tourists, and for a relatively healthy fishing industry.

I remember when it all came clear to me. It was back when Laura Hillenbrand's book, "Seabiscuit" came out. I read it for a book club. The first chapter discussed the history of the wagon wheel giving way to the motorcar. I got it then. Progress HAS to happen. As long as God gifts man with the desire to improve our circumstance, we will seek and achieve change. We will have to adjust to new things replacing old.

More than adjust, we need to anticipate it. For the average Joe, there is little to lose if we prolong the adaptation to change. The larger the organization or company, however, the more risk there is at procrastinating. Of course, "risk" is a loaded word. It all depends on your purpose. Personally, you might be stuck without a way to contact someone because you didn't buy a cell phone and just hoped you'd find a phone booth. Phone booth? When is the last time you saw one? They don't exist anymore. We now NEED our own phone for the sake of safety.

Like this article shows, a business that fails to think ahead will lose market share, and eventually become obsolete. Wanting to champion the successes of the past may seem noble, but in the end it is foolhardy. Sears? Blockbuster Video? Kodak?

It's a sad to see businesses shutter, but few people would want to hault the wheels of progress and go back to Colonial America. This just calls for us to tap into the creativity that God gave us.