If It Was Good Enough For Grandad...

I haven’t written about the old times in a while, so here goes.

In high school, all I wanted to do and ever dreamed of was farming and ranching; I had no other interests. Oddly, I had a group of about 10 other friends that felt the same way, so before class, during lunch, and any other time there was a break during school, we would get together and talk about farming.

We talked about cattle breeds, wheat varieties, machinery, politics, daily farm work and practices, and economics (yeah, I was a really exciting guy. LOL) From all these conversations, though, I remember one guy in particular who, when anything new or novel was mentioned, would adamantly and arrogantly proclaim that he had no interest in it because if the old way was good enough for his grandfather, it was good enough for him. You see, his grandfather and then his father had been very financially successful compared to most of my friends, and this particular guy reasoned that if his granddad and dad had done it successfully one way, then why change a good thing?

I remember finding logic in this guy’s argument at the time. But, even as a naïve young man, I felt there seemed to be something he was overlooking, though I couldn’t quite discern what it was. Without going into detail, this considerably wealthy family had an incredible work ethic, toiling seven days a week, from six in the morning, often until after midnight. They were guaranteed incredible success, right? It turns out that wasn’t the case.

Only a short few years later, my friend and his family lost their wealth, and they now struggle every day to survive. Hindsight now allows me to identify the problem I had struggled with earlier in life, which is that my friend didn’t realize their success and wealth were thanks to his grandfather’s innovative and progressive thinking. If his grandfather were still alive, he would continue to be an innovative and progressive thinker. The rest of my friend’s family didn’t understand that it was the process of thinking, innovating, and being open to new possibilities that had made them successful. Instead, his family focused on the specific acts and strategies that my friend’s grandfather implemented in his time and tried to repeat them.

As times move and change so fast, we often look to the past to see if we can glean an answer or some guidance as to the secrets of life and happiness. I have decided that it is not a specific act or way of doing something that will make a difference in going forward, but instead, it is the thought, intention, or way of living as a whole. We should always be looking for new ways to improve, and embracing innovation. I have extreme nostalgia for simpler times, but life marches on. If we hope to be successful, we must remember that the future lies in the future, not the past.