Monday; January 28
At the turn of the 20th Century, Henry Flagler was
creating civilization out of the harsh marshland known as Florida. After having tamed (or at least tempering)
the upper east coast of the peninsula he turned his attention to taking a
railroad all the way to Key West. If
building a railroad on the sandy soil and water soaked mainland seem
implausible, the idea of building it across the keys and water of extreme south
Florida seemed ludicrous and the project soon became known as Flagler’s
Folly. While there were many doubters, the
millionaire kept his eye on the prize with a simple but workable plan. When asked how he planned on traversing the
miles and miles of water between Miami and Key West he explained, “It is
perfectly simple. All you have to do is
build one concrete arch and then and another, and pretty soon you find yourself
in Key West.”. Anyone who has driven the
incredible highway known as A1A (which was built along the remnants of the
railway) is indebted to Flagler’s commitment and almost overly simplistic
philosophy that made it possible.
Do we ever seem
overwhelmed by situations? Do we find
ourselves distracted and disillusioned by what might go wrong? When we find ourselves in this situation
maybe the thing to do is reflect on Flagler’s philosophy of taking one thing at
a time. It may take an effort to reshape
our way of thinking and an unusual amount of focus, but taking one step at a
time is not only a good way to overcome whatever is in front of us, it is also
the only way to deal with what awaits us.
Think About It!