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Thriving Through Change
On this day 56 years ago, four women came together for a once-in-a-lifetime gathering. They met at the invitation of the naïve young couple in the centre of the picture.
These women remind me that, as human beings, we are designed to thrive through a lifetime of dramatic social and technological change.
Each of them was born at, or before, the turn of the last century. They were all alive when a human being flew an airplane for the first time. Only sixteen months before this photograph was taken, they had watched television as the first human walked on the moon.
They also lived through the horror of the two worst wars humanity has ever known. Two of them waited anxiously for sons to return from the second of those great conflicts.
What is extraordinary about these four women is how truly ordinary they were.
At one time, they were all teenage girls looking forward with hope to an unknown future. They became mothers. They experienced great love and great joy. They also endured great tragedy and trauma.
As some aspects of our current lives undergo dramatic and unpredictable change, we can take heart from the example of our ancestors. They learned not merely to survive but to thrive through changes that were every bit as dramatic and unpredictable as those we face today.