kokopelle | Grace Hopper, Youth and Change

The only constant is change... or that is the way things should be. We old(er) people get stuck in wanting things to remain the same, and it is up to the youth to drag us forward. I was inspired to think this by seeing a quote attributed to Grace Hopper's commencement speech to the Trinity College class of 1987, which was excerpted in TIME.

There’s always been change, there always will be change . . . It’s to our young people that I look for the new ideas. No computer is ever going to ask a new, reasonable question. It takes trained people to do that. And if we’re going to move toward those things we’d like to have, we must have the young people to ask the new, reasonable questions. A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. And I want every one of you to be good ships and sail out and do the new things and move us toward the future.

What are us old(er) people to do in the face of this challenge? Easy... think young, act young, and cultivate change. The latter will help ensure the two formers!