This is neither good nor bad; it's just the way it is. It's how the business world has functioned and what we've been driven to expect, based on product lifecycles and necessarily limited marketing budgets.
But today, on Memorial Day, let's take a moment to pause in the midst of our media planning, site analytics and lead generation to remember that our time here is limited, and if we're lucky, we'll be able to improve our industry and the lives of others while we're here. Our work may be fleeting, but our greater purpose can be more than that.
In that spirit, I give you the famous World War I poem "In Flanders Fields," by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872 - 1918) of the Canadian Army to reflect upon.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
For those who have come before and served well - in the armed forces as well as in our respective industries, let us always remember.
Image credit: Fr Antunes (Flickr)
