Page 28 - June 2020

PERSPECTIVES

with Pathways as out sole educational program the Dodo, my fellow Neanderthals, or an element

and write down a few answer(s). You may be that has a life of sixty seconds. Or jump right in.
flabbergasted by your response. Has the mission The water is fine. We really have not changed or
changed? Do we not even now practice the arts of “lost anything” at all.
speechcraft, evaluation, and leadership? Can we As I sit upon my bed, reflecting on that poor,

be successful still in our efforts towards personal deeply saddened young girl from two centuries
growth and development? Can you nevertheless before, my thoughts were on what she truly faced
receive peer and organizational recognition for in booming Bodie. After her carriage trip to the
your Toastmaster progress? train station, by ferry to the other side of the

I may have called myself a Neanderthal, Bay, down to Central California, and the stage
but I would without a doubt have to grunt and ride to her new home, what happened to her? We
knit my beetle brow in a positive expression of really do not know. History does not record it. I
acclamation. bet she made new friends, liked her new teacher,

Ergo, I submit to you all that what has or will and while it lasted, watched in awe at the daily
truly “change” are the packaging, the method of happenings in that blustery town. While her
delivery, and the reorganization of the old tried- Papa’s bank prospered, so did their family. And
and-true Toastmasters successful methodology when the time came for the bust of the gold fever

into accessible, vibrant and relatable materials and prosperity, she sat upon yet another bed,
for the 21st century using the technology we pining for what she was to leave behind. Now it
already possess. Forget Base Camp, digital is 2020, and if it were me, I would be entering
(merit) badges and the bells and whistles. these words in my electronic journal, “Goodbye

I spent a week going through every path, traditional program, I am going to Pathways!”
level, and speech or leadership requirement Won’t you join me on the adventure of a
in both the “legacy” program and Pathways. lifetime?
I am pleased to report that it is all there! Of

course, the progression may differ, a term has
been updated—or what we have considered the Only time will tell, as our
normal changed—but . . . and here it is, folks, memories fade into a past
it is all there. that isn’t meant to be a part

“Honest Abe” Lincoln said it best “. . . you
can’t please all the people all the time.” There of the future. Eventually,
will always be naysayers, glass-half-empty we have to find a way to let
proponents, and those that just will not try. them go, to move forward

However, we have an opportunity now set
before us to embrace a new challenge, gaze into and accept what’s to come.
a future technology, and method of progress in —A.M. Willard, Fading Memories
our beloved Toastmasters program. You can join

28 ONE COMMUNITY