Dateline: above the garage in Portsmouth RI, 27 December 2004
Was going to take sick leave today to tend to ill wife and eldest daughter, but snow storm saved me the effort by closing the base to all but essential personnel (and we now know how unessential I truly am!).
The amazing and heart-rending story of the tsunamis in Asia has shifted my time on "Fox & Friends" tomorrow. Instead of appearing in the 7am EST hour, I'll appear at approximately 6:50 am EST. That means the car sent from Providence to drive me to Watertown MA and the satellite studio there will need to pick me up around 5am, so if I look a bit bleary eyed, you'll know that either my spouse's tough day dragged on or baby's two incisors coming through made for some late night HBO watching on my part.
I won't be using the "Fox & Friends" platform to announce my impending departure from the college. Upon advice of many friends and family, I will let that sleeping dog lie. There's simply no good way to spin that event without raising unsettling questions about the college's (or the Department of Navy's) fears and motivations regarding my future writings, and I'd rather not go down that road, even if some on the other side are more than happy to voice malicious accusations regarding my own. Taking that argument public is counterproductive to my goal of spreading the vision, which I know has widespread appeal even within the U.S. Navy, probably the service most likely to endure significant change as a result--after the Army, of course. So I won't be dignifying those sorts of threats, and I trust the college's leadership will be wise enough to do the same.
Again, the larger goals here are what matter. I saw an amazing segment last night on "60 Minutes" on the "echo boomers," sometimes called the "Y Generation" and the "Millenium Boom." It's the single largest age cohort America has ever seen, roughly 80 million souls born between the 1980 and the early 1990s, meaning my oldest Emily would fit in. This is the group that will run the world in 2025, as their age range will then extend from roughly 30 to 45.
Reaching this group regarding A Future Worth Creating is everything to me, for they are the generation of note for the next several decades.
To that end, there are no greater satisfactions had than to receive the sort of letter I just got from a high school teacher who's written me in the past.
Here it is in full:
Dear Tom,I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your brief again and the question and answer session. You may recall that I was the Davison High School teacher that asked for a little advice before. After reading the book and being a constant visitor to your weblog, I was most excited to see that your brief was returning to C-SPAN. It will be an excellent addition to my current issues class next semester, which I am going to give a ìworld problems and conflictî spin.
I wanted as many of this semesterís students (Economics, Government, and American History) to see it as possible, but itís too long to show in a 50-minute class with the end of the semester looming. So, I bribed the children with extra credit for watching it and writing up a summary and reaction paper. I figured that this semesterís kids would be fine guinea pigs.
I've created a monster. I have kids walking around talking about "system perturbations," "disconnectedness defines danger," and "Sys Admin." The assistant principal reports he has even heard them discussing this on their lunch period.
It gets betteróI have a large world map on one wall of my classroom. The day after the brief, I had several students ask if we could draw the boundary of the Core and Gap on it. Another student raised his hand, presumably to lobby for it, and I called on him. He responded that it wouldnít be wise to draw the line on the map permanently because the gap will be progressively shrunk, and that it would be better to put clear plastic over the map and draw the line with an overhead marker. Out of the mouths of babesÖ
As far as the brief is concerned, I liked the new version, but you cannot leave out the part about Canada and anthrax! Itís too crucial to demonstrating the ìnew rule setsî that emerge from 9/11.
May I humbly suggest the following ìnew rule setî for your weblog? India is now being forced to conform to the WTOís new rule set on patents for prescription drugs. This will contribute to connectivity; now the outsourcing of jobs can include more high-tech drug researching jobs to India, since there will be less risk of patent infringement. Umm, is that a good thing? By your model, it is a definite good. Try telling that to new American medicine graduates. . ..
Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to reading ìA Future Worth Creating.î And don't let caller #1 from the program (clearly of questionable sanity) stop you in your quest.
Sincerely yours,
Mike Baysdell
Weird thing is, I know Davison well. My first cousins on my Mom's side grew up there, and we visited their house several times across my childhood.
Small world, huh?
Indeed, getting smaller all the time in the minds of the Echo Boomers.
And I think that is a very good thing.