Tales of Knowledge Lost

          Transitioning from a career of almost 40 years is inherently difficult.  There is the ‘already but not yet’ aspects of moving into new requirements, practices and knowledge. It is exciting and stimulating.  Whenever I stretch my mind to new possibilities and opportunities the creative juices flow and I am revitalized.  It is great.  But then there is the current job.  As I continue to work in my insurance agency I am becoming keenly aware that I know a LOT about the insurance and financial services business.  When someone asks me a question I can not just answer the question but give background information about why that's the answer.  I have 40 years of experience, education and errors that I have grown from.  It was sobering to think that this will soon be less relevant information and in a sense ‘lost’ to the world.

          That reminded me of another transition I made 32 years ago when I left the Air Force.  At the time I was an aircraft commander, instructor and flight examiner pilot in C-141 Starlifters, the workhorse of the Air Force fleet.  I knew that airplane inside and out and was able to diagnose almost any system problem with the airplane and was teaching others how to do the same.  It was a great feeling of competence and confidence.  When I left the service all of that information was useless.  It was brought home in a more profound way recently when I visited the ‘boneyard’ at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.  I found that they had destroyed all but a few C-141’s.  There are a few in air museums around the country but they are basically gone, so much for being an expert in a piece of hardware that no longer exists.  As I recently took my grandsons on an inside tour of one of those museum pieces I could still tell them lots of details and facts about the airplane but who really cares anymore. 
              
 

           The Jack Nicholson movie ‘What About Schmidt?’ really captures the essence of personal obsolescence.  The truth of the matter is that we are all on the verge of being obsolete.  Resting in the knowledge and expertise of the past is ‘outdated currency’ not worth the paper it is written on.  Fortunately I have not fallen into the trap of obsolescence and have been ‘retooling’ myself to enter the ministry for the past 5 years.  The question is, how are you becoming obsolete, what knowledge that you currently have will be worthless in the near future.  It’s not too late to begin the retooling process.