Fight? At What Cost?

Today DH and I watched the movie 'Flash of Genius' which is one of those stories of David vs Goliath. Not an especially unusual premise, but this one was a little tough for us to watch.
It is the story of a man who developed a windshield wiper control to give us what is now known as intermittent speed wipers.
He wanted to manufacture and sell the units to the companies that build cars, and thought that he had a deal to do so but instead was pressured to provide a unit for safety testing, and then found himself without a contract, while his invention turned up on cars months later.

As the story unfolded it reminded us of some of our ventures and adventures over the years. Just having a flash of genius is only the beginning of a long process, and the hoped for outcome is never as easy to achieve as it ought to be. Negotiating with others has to be done skillfully, and there is always something that you don't expect that will surprise you along the way. Not everyone will deal with you in good faith, and often you find yourself cut out of the process while your idea continues in someone else's hands.

The character in the movie was taken advantage of, and he fought back, but paid a terrible price to do so. It alienated his family, and cost him his marriage, along with years of his life as well. Was that worth it? To destroy his family to take on a soulless corporation, which did appear to have done wrong. Should he have let the issue go, and continued with his life, sadder but wiser, with the injustice eating at his belly?
Part of the story was that he heard from other inventors who had developed things only to have the patents go to corporate interests while the inventor is left empty handed and broke. I can begin to understand why some seem to hate the business world.

Morality is something we all need, individually and corporately. Sometimes we take a hit by doing the right thing, but isn't our integrity the only thing that we really have? Somewhere along the way forward, you will sow what you have reaped. Do the right thing.

Reconnecting and Renewing

Reconnecting is always a thing of joy, isn't it?
I had the chance last week to reconnect with the ladies from the church in Jacksonville that we attended while living there.

It has been five years since leaving Jacksonville, but whenever we have the chance to get together, time does not feel as if it has separated us.
Years of fellowship, the crises that we have prayed one another through, the joyful occasions in our lives have knit our hearts together.

My dear friends had arranged to rent a house on the beach, where there was one morning that even my night owl self was up early enough to see the sun rise on the ocean. What a treat that is!

I tackled a small knitting project, knitting a scarf for a friend's daughter. I love to knit, but don't have the sit down time too often to do it, so that was a treat, especially to be able to actually FINISH something. It's been too long. (I have a blanket that I started for a baby who is now 15 years old. But I made a mistake with the gauge, so it doesn't go together properly. Who knew that making white squares and black squares would turn out different sizes, even using the same crochet hook?)

A barefoot walk on the beach, the friendships rekindled, the time to relax. I feel renewed.

And then getting back home was delayed by a blizzard that pounded the East Coast. Our normal mild winters had one last hurrah, that gave me an extra day in Florida. The night I got home, it was 5* outside with several inches of snow. I was reminded of winters in Wisconsin. Now it is 5 days later, and we have the windows open. Yup, climate change! It's all good, it is supposed to be like that. Winter changes into spring. There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Sometimes we need to renew ourselves to be able to continue to serve our families, and the time at the beach was good for that. Thank you to all who were a part of that.