Barnabas File

You can do a Google search on this quote, but the results on its origin are ambiguous.   Most likely, it is a Native American tribal saying popularized by leadership gurus like Peter Drucker.   The meaning, of course, is clear.   When something no longer work, it is time to move on. This is easier said than done.  In business and industry, abandoning a project may mean the loss of jobs and capital investment.  In education, old approaches must be unlearned and new ways learned.  In the church, there may be some fear that we are giving up part of what makes us faithful when we end a program, ministry, worship service, or building.  It is not only about change, but loss as well. R. Buckminster Fuller  said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality.  To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”  So what do you do when the existing model is already obsolete?...

"You never change things by fighting existing reality. To change something, build a new reality that makes the existing reality obsolete."--R. Buckminster Fuller Reality is a funny thing.  If the two of us look at the same picture, read the same article, or observe the same interactions between two or more people, each of us might well come away with very different conclusions.  This is because everyone brings his or her own perspective to the situation.  The perspective we carry with us has been developed over many years through various life experiences.   Sometimes our perspective on reality is what keeps us sane.  At the same time, having a certain perspective on reality does not make one’s viewpoint “right.” For example, I had a conversation with someone after the Presidential election and commented, “I think many people voted based on their fears.”  My friend responded, “No, this was all about power and keeping certai...