How to remember the ‘great man?’

The cogent question is NOT how to remember him. He was after all pervasive, omnipresent and ‘full frontal’ in your face 24/7. To put it another way, he made himself the veritable big brother house brand.

The question is how to forget him and move on to chart a new confident and self assured course without the ‘great man.’

That is the question of all questions…to those who use their brain at least.

As for those who do not think and choose only to follow blindly and unthinkingly….this wisdom will always be a mystery to them.

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‘It would appear to some, the only reliable way to gainfully make progress into the future is to cling steadfastly to the past. Conceptually, I don’t disagree this may be a good way to move forward….providing past performance is a good indicator of future performance. But I for one am not so sure, the dead grip on the rudder is the best way to move forward.

As the world is changing even as we speak. We talk these days about the balkanisation of skills, labor and intellectual capital. Shifts in power from the Western Hemisphere to the Asia Pacific. We can go on and on for at least ten or twenty pages why today is so different from yesterday that it’s doubtful what’s good in the past can even endure.

When I think about the power and politics of my own vocation – farming. It’s so different from the past that often I can’t rely on past knowledge or old ways of doing things. If I did that, I would end up being a charitable organisation instead of a profitable enterprise. As many of the assumptions that were once set pieces in the past have changed irrevocably – for instance, the weather is not what it used to be. Consumers these days are increasingly conscious of the health and moral cost of the producing food – I am not saying they don’t gravitate towards the best deals in the supermarket. But if the price of that buy one get another free deal comes from displacing cute orang utans or baby sharks – then, they rather eat something else. And this changing landscape of attitudes, out looks and values are only the tip of the iceberg.

My point is the world is not what it used to be. This may seem new, but it’s not. It’s just old dressed up as new. As every age and generation since recorded history has its own challenges – and this underscores the urgency to move on. To set a new agenda. Craft a new vantage. To even have the courage not to be lulled into the delectable delusional confidence of the sentimental and nostalgic and to proceed to jettison the old courageously.

This is the way of the world….and to me it’s hardly a matter of choice.’