by Craig Campbell –
I really am the perfect person to talk to about this issue’s theme: innovation. In fact, some call me Mr. Innovation; yessiree bob. Totally innovative. You see, I am always being innovative, I, uh … is it getting warm in here?
Where was I? Right, innovation. Let’s start with a complete list of things I am good at and see how innovative I have been: 1) …
Okay, admittedly the list of things I am good at is embarrassingly short. Well then, how about list the things I may not be good at, but at least enjoy, and look at how they have improved through me being innovative. I like the outdoors, dogs, literature, food and drink.
Boats have figured prominently in my life and my favourite means of propulsion are, uh, paddle and sail. Hmm, doesn’t sound very innovative really. Sounds kind of old fashioned, when you think about it.
Dogs. Dogs have been friends with man for thousands of years now and over the millennia our relationships have changed so much … ah, that’s not true either, really. Nothing has changed there. (A digression: our 10-week old Labrador retriever puppy, the latest canine addition to the household, is currently creating havoc as I attempt to meet the deadline for this article. Puppy chaos has not changed either.)
Which brings us to literature: my favourite authors are Shakespeare and Tolkien. Wait a second: one guy has been dead 400 years and the other wrote fairy tales. Hardly qualifies for the topic of innovation, when you think about it. So far I am zero for three.
But food and drink! Here’s a topic I can sink my teeth into. (Sorry, just can’t resist a corny pun.) Why, my favourite method of cooking is barbecuing, using charcoal and a ceramic cooker that has been around so long now that … Argh, I am digging myself deeper!
Alright! Alright! I am not innovative! Not even remotely. I am terrible with modern stuff. I am old fashioned, virtually a Luddite in today’s society. My father always said I was born 100 years too late, as growing up I was always mucking about in the woods with a dog or messing around in a rowboat or canoe. Don’t get me wrong now, I don’t reject modern technology or anything: I am just a little slow to embrace it, not to mention the fact that I don’t really understand it very well. I do own a cell phone, though I was likely one of the last people on the planet to get one, and to this day I’m nowhere near proficient at its use. I seem to hang up on callers more often than picking up. (That last statement dated me, didn’t it?) I meant “disconnect,” not “pick up.”
I truly admire innovative people and how our world might improve if through innovation we can make things better. Not to be negative, but we are heading for environmental folly should we not reverse, if not at least change, our course. Through developments such as electric vehicles, green energy, stabilized harvesting of resources, etc. we can leave this world a better place for future generations.
As for me, I am off to the woods with the dogs.
