Good Afternoon People of Franklin!

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”                -Mark Twain

As I sit at my desk and type this it’s a beautiful day with an outside temperature of 82º F. The sky has a few puffy clouds and it is as blue as can be.

There’s still a lot going on around us. It seems to me that the ability to step back and draw a deep breath has become difficult at best.

I wonder how we all got so smart, confident, and cocksure about what we think we know concerning all that’s happening. I don’t know about you, but I still have more questions than answers and I’m in the decision-making business! To be quite honest, sometimes I fake it. And later, when I’m alone and secure in my thought process I ruminate about something or other I may have done, always hoping I made the correct choice.

Some years ago, I had a skydiving student who wanted to attain his first of four skydiving licenses. The system is progressive in form and function and there is a great deal to learn. The “A” license requires an 8 to10 hour ground school and a minimum of 25 skydives (very few ever do it with only 25). Upon successful completion of the jumps, the student graduates to the “A” license (usually with a pie in their face…it’s tradition after all!).

Anyway, the first skydive or Category A jump is very simple. We fly to 14,000 feet, put the student between two instructors and jump out of the plane with the instructors holding on to the student. Of course, there’s a lot of practice on the ground (called “dirt diving”) in order to prepare.

All we want from this first skydive is an indication that the student can think while falling at about 120 mph. The student only has to remember to maintain a “stable” body position, remain altitude aware (they wear an analogue altimeter) and deploy their parachute at the correct altitude (5500 feet). Because this is the student’s first jump, we do not release them, and in some cases, we deploy for them.

On one occasion, I was the primary instructor for a student who knew everything. He was a tough, rough guy who did everything and anything he wanted. Nothing bothered him at all. He was fearless, or so he said. He made it clear that the upcoming jump was going to be a walk in the park. I thought (hoped really) he listened to me during ground school and while dirt diving.

We had an uneventful ride to altitude and at the proper time, the three of us took our places in the open door. As I mentioned he had two instructors. His job was to give the “count” and we would all exit together. Instead, he froze in the door and each of his eyes were about 7” in diameter. He never said anything so we “took” him out of the plane. His body (which should have been somewhat relaxed and loose) became a 4”x4” post! He was so stiff that there was no way we could complete our tasks. The other instructor and I had jumped together many times so we know this would be an “instructor controlled” freefall. And it was. We descended to 5500 feet and I deployed his parachute for him.

Like all beginning students, he had a one-way radio attached to his chest strap that allowed a ground-crew member to “talk” him through his descent under canopy and then safe landing. This worked, not a ‘stand-up’ landing, but a safe and controlled one.

With students, I always offer them the opportunity to describe the jump from their point of view after we’ve dropped our gear and begun to debrief. He said to me, “I did great, huh?” I told him we needed to discuss the jump during a formal debrief. He agreed, picked up all his stuff, got in his car and drove away never to be heard from again.

Oh well!

There are always those who know everything and really don’t need the lessons learned from experience.

There’s a lot of that going on today and, in my humble opinion, so much so that I’d waste your time and this space in any effort to compile a comprehensive list.

In skydiving, we teach students (and we’re all expected to do the same, no matter how experienced) to keep their heads “on a swivel” after they’ve deployed their parachute. This means look around at everything and anything. If they don’t like what they see, steer away from it and readdress the situation at a more appropriate time. If that means they can’t land where they wanted to, then so be it. Land elsewhere, gather the gear and walk. Better to hike than risk injury or death. Just another of life’s little lessons.

So where do we go from here? Are we capable of learning from experience?  If we are, then are we able to change for the better? And who sets the parameters? Who creates the definitions? And who ensures these efforts are dynamic and not static?

Is this a democratic process? Is this a totalitarian regime? Is it even possible given the reality that there are probably as many opinions as there are people? As I said…more questions than answers.

Is change going to steamroll over us and those thoughts and feelings we’ve held on to and perhaps cherished for quite some time? Or, are we able to examine our points of view and adjust if need be?

There are all sorts of prognostications being floated. To some, we are in the midst of perhaps the greatest social experiment in the history of human-kind. To others, the sky is falling and there’s nowhere to hide. To many, their point of view is inviolable and does not require change. More’s the pity.

If I have learned nothing after almost 7 decades on this small blue pearl of a planet, I have learned that we all have the capacity to change for the better IF we allow ourselves to do so.

Please, give it a try. You might be surprised at the results.