Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

As you start reading this, you may be wondering how the title relates to the topic.  Well, the title came at the end of a train of thought, so let me take you to the front of this particular train.

The engine (as it were) was me sweeping up leaves which had been blown down in the autumn/winter high wind...and I often receive messages when I'm being physically active - the shower's another great place for me, but today it was sweeping up leaves in the sunshine.   The first carriages of the train were all about people's skills. Initially, it was about the skill of the computer technician who so swiftly and expertly fixed my computer after it'd been hacked (thanks, Chris!).  Then I started thinking about how skilled all people are, no matter who they are or where they live in the world - skilled teachers, skilled parents, skilled healers, skilled mathematicians (don't know how they popped onto the train, but there you are!)...and all those people who are skilled at allowing themselves to follow their nudges and explore paths unknown (or, if they are known, to create another path from the known into the unknown), to create something new and more wonderful than what went before.

I was following this train until I got to the bit where I realised we are all of us skilled, each of us in our own way, and that we all need each other and our individual and unique skills at some time in our lives. Think about it: if our ancestors hadn't become skilled at survival, I wouldn't be writing this - and you wouldn't be reading it.

And then I heard 'You are all standing on the shoulders of giants'.  Let us give thanks for the giants.