Anthem 2015
75 years later, and the words written two generations ago come to life like a prophesy. To be sure, this was not a unique occurrence, nor have others been spared this over the decades, but some things are so striking, and the words are so completely from the script, that they deserve to be highlighted.
My wife and I own a small bakery. Baking bread is a very labor-intensive occupation and since we are both engineers, we designed a tool that reduces a part of the manual process, while tremendously improving safety (by eliminating any possibility of being burned by the hot oven). The tool is incredibly simple and so effective that we couldn’t even picture going back to the old method. We patented it and built them for sale to bakers. Obviously, we thought, that an excellent venue would be a culinary school – just like Apple, if the tool can be introduced to students, they will ask their future employers to buy it. So, we met with the chef in charge of the department at Sargent J. Reynolds Community College in Richmond. Introduced the tool, demonstrated its use and value and even offered him one free. He declined. The reason, he said, was that this is a new tool, not currently used in all other bakeries, therefore, when his students graduate, they may not have one available. And if everyone does not have it, he won’t teach with it or introduce it!