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The Way it Has Always Been Done

Back in the rural community where I was raised, no building exceeded two stories. The roads were unpaved, dusty in summer, snowbound in winter and abounded in frost holes in spring.
One lazy summer day, lying flat on my back in the tall grass, gazing at the clouds and letting my imagination run wild, I thought of that dusty, rutted, road between my home and the community ten miles distant. If I could wave a magic wand, how would I improve it?
Looking at the unencumbered sky between the ground and the fleecy cumulus clouds, I could easily envision a roadway fifty feet high, above the trees and gullies and potholes of the present gravel road. Made of cement, it would be smooth as silk. It would not have frost heaves, nor potholes, nor dusty or twisting around blind curves. Snow would not block it in winter because the wind would sweep it clear.
The idle dreams of imagination.
When in my mid-teens and visiting Saint John for the first time, what caught my eye were the huge cement overpasses and bridge across the reversing falls. Not quite matching the idle vision of my youth but still so far advanced of what I knew, could only stare in wonder.
The same wonder struck me on my travels through Detroit, Toronto, Vancouver. Tall buildings forming a canyon with cement roads between them. Elevators inside rapidly lifted people upstairs, 30, 40, 50 stories.
It did not occur to me that someone, somewhere, at some time had symbolically laid on their back in the tall grass and dreamed of these magnificent creations.
Far too many of us limit ourselves to thinking about muddy roads and two storey buildings We simply do what has been done before because much of the time we don’t want to think, to dream, to build, to improve that which already exists. We limit ourselves to repetition. And, as an excuse, convince ourselves, as we try to convince others, that we are doing so because that is the way it’s always been done.
Millenniums ago, primitive man used a club for hunting or for defense. Probably a broken tree limb. Maybe one day in frustration, because he missed a swing at a rabbit, he flung the club at the fleeing animal only to gawk in amazement as the hurled club knocked the rabbit senseless. Being a bit of a dreamer, he wondered one day if the club was longer and slimmer, it might be easier to throw at distant targets. He tried it. It worked. Then someone came up with the idea that if the end of the club were sharpened to a point, it might penetrate rather than merely stun. With a little practice this became the norm. Another had the idea of shaping and attaching a sharpened stone. This adaptation proved they could easily stab a close rabbit or deer, but could throw it efficiently as well. Eventually someone dreamed of launching a smaller version of the spear from a vine under tension between the ends of a curved branch. The bow and arrow was born.
Thus, through a succession of ages, man’s thoughts, ideas, dreams and willingness to ignore the remonstrations of his neighbors and friends have produced works that are the admiration of his age.
Even before the Temple of King Solomon, so spacious and magnificent, could be built someone had to be bold enough to voice their vision of what could be. A palace does not spring into being when one is trying to build a barn. It takes bold imagination to create a masterpiece.
The act of creative imagination, however original it may be, must follow all the rules of nature of the material used. One cannot build a solid foundation on a pile of sand. No matter how much hope is for solidity, the building will eventually crumble to the ground. Only by understanding the nature of the material and by original thinking can the builder bring his idea to fruition.
The club, the spear, and the arrow were effective in their day because they were original. Because someone had a vision of improving them, the ability to hunt and provide food became easier. Also, this new tool made them superior to their enemies. But it also forced the enemy to think of new ways of defending themselves.
There can be no argument that it takes someone with vision to improve upon that which already exists. They are the builders of the future. Instead of throwing obstacles in their way, encourage them to build on the foundations already laid by dreamers and visionaries.
Those who resist new ideas should not be condemned for their desire to do it the way it has always been done, for therein lies the key to the future. Only by the mind-numbing repetition of what has always been can a man be forced to conceptualize a palace where a barn once stood.
It isn’t the act of creating superhighways or building skyscrapers that is remarkable; it’s the idea that started it all.
Someone, somewhere, lying on their back in the tall grass staring at the clouds overhead, came up with an idea.

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