We're All Connected

Hi there! My apologies for being incommunicado here for almost a month. February has been a whirlwind of meetings, events and travel -- about which I'll share in a moment.

I knew that 2008 was going to be my year of technology -- much of my hardware will need to be upgraded, and we'll be adding some e-commerce features to the InStep website soon. So, the coach has jumped on the BlackBerry bandwagon! As so many of you know, there are distinct pros and cons of being virtually accessible 24-7 (can you really unplug?). However, here are some additional quirks ...

Last week was the first trip I took without leaving an "out-of-office" message on my email server. With that came the stress of wondering whether clients expected instantaneous responses, even though I didn't want to resort to rude-BlackBerry behaviors such as checking email during meetings! [And, because I couldn't see the somewhat comforting "Sent from my BlackBerry wireless" message at the bottom of my outgoing emails -- which I hoped would convey my "on-the-road" status.]

Then, there was the BlackBerry outage they announced on the news that made me wonder whether or not there were hundreds more messages out in the ether waiting for me -- since it didn't appear that my service had been impacted.

Luckily, I was able to put aside my concerns and take advantage of my trip to Nashville and experience some of the Music City. One rewarding stop was to the Nashville Public Library -- in addition to being a fabulous high-tech facility, they are hosting several exhibits about the Civil Rights movement. Two things that struck me were the photos of Harold Lowe and an installation in one of their halls.

The second exhibit was an artistic rendition of a lunch counter (that would have been segregated) -- if you can, picture a half moon structure, with stools surrounding it. On top of the "counter" was frosted glass, and etched inside were quotes from the nonviolent training "instructions" the participants would have received (e.g., not to provoke others, not to respond to rude comments, etc.). It really brought the reality of our past into focus for me, especially as I heard an excerpt of one of Dr. King's speeches playing in the background. Could I have been so committed as to not have responded to the taunts of the agitators? Not to mention, would I have even had the courage to participate?

We are all connected, by our experiences, by our his/her stories. Let's continue to share and learn from each other!