Hi Rob,
When I saw your words, I did a double take
as a broad smile crept across my face.
You said:
>Wow: no flames! Just lotsa questions!
>
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One of the fringe benefits of me being
an older Airstreamer is I'm no longer
16. At 16, I knew everything and no
one could tell me anything. With each
subsequent year, "everything" kept
increasing until it was obvious I knew
a lot about many things and had a lot
to learn about most things. It was also
clear that I'd never be done learning.
With that came another insight that
suddenly served me exceedingly well. I
found that asking the truth seeking
questions kept me out of the flames,
and put me squarely into the arena
of problem solving. The neat thing
about that was it paralleled the
path for successfully accomplishing
all sorts of goals.
As a 25 year old, that insight was
worth its weight in gold. Now, fast
forwarding to today 2000, I read
postings by another generation of
young adults and low and behold,
they've already learned that.
Perhaps this discussion group
attracts those who do not rush
to judgement or those who know
adventures can be exquisitely
more satisfying when there is
attention to detail, organization
and planning, and thinking about
what they want before charging
into action.
Whatever it is, just by considering
"dull and shiny" in the same
sentence speaks volumes. All of us
know the only thing that's constant
is change. By definition, that
includes attitudes about what used
to make an Airstream beautiful,
what still makes an Airstream
beautiful and what may make an
Airstream beautiful next year.
This "dull and shiny" thread is
going somewhere none of us have
been before. Hey Guys, this is a
more exciting line of thinking
than I imagined when it first
started up. Whether it continues
unabated or pops up now and then
as more experimentation occurs
and results surface, is not
relevant. What's relevant is a
new concept has begun to take
shape. This is the ground floor.
Ooops, after re-reading this and
knowing I've only put the tip of
my enthusiasm into words, maybe
I've gone on a minor tangent.
Oh, well. So be it.
Terry
