Am I Obsolete?

When I worked at Martin Marietta (Lockheed Martin) in the Denver area, there was a time when the morale of the workforce was a bit low I had a personal visit with Jim McAnally, who was the site Vice President. In preparation for my work I remember going around the work place and collecting cartoons people had posted on the walls and making a copy of them for our discussion. There were a couple that I found humorous but pertinent.

One piece of work was a series of panels that expressed a sentiment in pictures;

1. A stagecoach being pulled by 6 horses and one man with a whip driving
2. A stagecoach with 4 horses and two men flailing whips
3. A stagecoach with 2 horses and 4 men with whips beating the horses
4. A stagecoach with one horse and 6 men with whips beating a dead horse

At the time many of the common class were being "laid off" while record bonuses and stock options were given to the executives.

Another of the pieces was a horse drawn wagon that had square wheels on all four corners, but was chock full of new shiny round wheels.

There was a time when buggy companies were the thing of the day. Competition for buggies was stiff. Now there is not so much competition for the buggies, but you can still buy a buggy. The same can probably be said for whip makers.

I wonder if I have become like the buggies, where for some I still serve a purpose, but the demand is not as high as it was in the past. Maybe I am just too "hardcore", as one of Anita's friends put it. Who would have guessed that I would become "old fashioned", where why is as important as what.