Walking the dog today, my thoughts drifted to columnist Don Roberts and Secret Agent Angus MacGyver of the early 1990s “MacGyver” TV series.

Roberts recently painted a glowing image of the city of Augusta as a city of “rapid change,” surmising that “with progress comes a price” and “change can be temporarily uncomfortable.” It’s also perpetually inevitable.

He notes a number of Augusta’s recent achievements and ideas still in the pipeline — harbingers of a robust future. He nominates Augusta as an “All-America City.” I second it.

MacGyver’s character eschewed guns and violence in lieu of solving problems armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of physical science, by applying ingenuity and intellect to achieve his goals. MacGyver could have carved a computer from a bar of soap to horse around on Facebook, but it was only an hour show.

Roberts refers to — and MacGyver deferred to — ingenuity, tenacity and perseverance. It’s been said: “Problems are also the price we pay for progress.” So are failures and setbacks. No one ever accomplished anything without counting on the nay-sayers and detractors, the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” crowd.

New ideas typically go against conventional wisdom, which is rarely wisdom at all, but rather a safe place the meek seek to avoid the inevitable, and occasionally the incredible.

Ol’ Albert Einstein once quipped, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world.” Imagination is indeed the foundation on which anything of value is forged. Like our new hospital, or even that petanque court in Mill Park.

I salute those who get up every day to go to work or school, endeavoring to change the world. Or simply look in the mirror and wonder with courage and conviction: “What if …?”

Buddy Doyle

Gardiner

Copy the Story Link