Yesterday I went to The Center for Preventative Medicine at Loma Linda for a discussion with my doctor. On my way there I went up a long elevated walkway from the parking lot. You could walk around it . . three steps through the planted area or walk 40 steps up the elevated walkway.
Almost everyone takes the three steps through the planted area. It was a worn pathway of red sand and small rocks in a larger landscape of thirty or forty shrubs and other small green plants. The pathway looked inviting and a lot shorter, so I took it
If you were managing this area, this would be an interesting issue . . how to make people go up the ramp.
In the old days they would build a tasteful fence to stop it. When that didn’t work, they would put up something to make it impossible to walk through the garden . . essentially, destroying the fung shui of the garden. The garden would be ugly . . but a majority of people would go up the ramp. Many, however, would still find a way up to save the 37 extra steps and trample the beautiful garden.
Fortunately, forty years of understanding, growth, and experience later, we have learned better. . . someone would put in three concrete steps, preserving the look and beauty of the garden yet allowing for the exigencies of humanity. Thank you Tom Peters.
I look around. There are those still clinging to the past. We see them everywhere. Their handiwork are in our cities, our parks, our laws, and our lives.
But, they are fighting the tide of change.