Road Trip!

The trip across the Bering land bridge and to America: A newlywed couple leaves and their great, great, great grandkids get there. Just leaving is “pushing the envelope” far beyond what most of us ever consider. And, how would our values and ideas change on the way?  Take a trip with me to consider.

   Click on TRANSCRIPT, above, to read.  Or, just click play.  Thanks for being here! 

Transcript

                                                                  Road Trip!

           I'm sorry, I  want to share this with you:  I've always enjoyed studying early man. Now, here's some anthropology for you: the arrowhead, known as the Clovis point, was a great advance, but it took a long time to develop. Now this arrowhead, the Clovis point, spread very fast from Eastern Europe down to South America. So fast that it was not being individually developed in each area. Therefore, humankind was exploring and taking the Clovis arrowhead with them, moving from East Europe to North America to South America. It's strong evidence of the travel. 

     And change? Talk about the change in the people over that time. Humor aside, they would have taken at least hundreds of years for that trip. That's some road trip. Talk about, are we there yet? I have to go to the bathroom. The young couple leaves with tin cans tied to their bumper, and their great, great, great, great-grandkids get there. Now that's going on a family road trip. Just like the DMV, all the nightmare stories of family road trips are true. That’s what being a teacher is like:  being on a road trip. It doesn't end. The kids can't roll down the window. They just have to sit there and do schoolwork without chatting next to the person next to them. And you can't just watch the road go by and ignore them. I think you have to be a road tripper to be a teacher. 

     But I find myself wondering who on this 10-generation family road trip to South America would be the quickest to change? The older generation or the teenagers? Now I see a point for each. The older generation has seen more. They would be quicker to recognize advantageous change and adapt to it, right? On the other hand, teenagers are less set in their ways, more willing to push the envelope, less affected by taboos- for better or worse. Now, envelope pushing is a skill on its own. Some people push the limits more than others. Some people don't push the envelope at all. Some people have never even seen the envelope. 

     I think younger people are more likely to say, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. The oldsters have decided they have too much to lose, they're going to play it safe. 

     But there are some things in life that demand pushing the envelope. Women, do you want to be half-heartedly, totally average romanced? Guys, do you want the players in the Super Bowl to not push the envelope? 

     No, I conclude the younger generation are more likely to change. But because of their inexperience, they are more likely to head off in wrong directions in that change. To make mistakes looking for the right way. Now, that is a tremendous thing. To have the courage to seek change, even if the path is unsure. But I greatly admire the courage to push through. That thought led to this song. I call it Who Are You Listening To?