Saturday, November 1, 2014

Widget WEvival
A parable by
Ken Cagle
There was a man named Damien who discovered one day he needed a change.  After a life of unfulfilled purpose and no direction, he discovered the widget factory.  Making the widget, a great tool for all who were willing to buy, was the direction Damien always needed.  Damien was so moved that he changed his name to Christian (His friends begin to call him Chris).
After sometime passed, Chris begin to discover ways to make the widget better and passed his suggestions on to those above him.  The upper management always seemed to appreciate the suggestions and was often quick to implement Chris’ ideas.  Even though he never received any recognition for the input he offered, Chris was just happy to be a part of the widget team and wanted to be helpful.
One day, while reading the widget manual, Chris discovered that there were serious issues with the current widget model and began to rethink the widget, and how it was compared to how it should be.  After many days of research and study, Chris took his suggestion for revising the widget to his supervisors.
To his appall, his suggestions were completely rejected by all of his management team.  He was warned to stop questioning everything and just keep quite because he was stirring up trouble.  All logic and reasoning seemed to be thrown out and Chris was devastated.
In a short time, Chris was so distraught that he began to search for other widget makers that might embrace his discoveries.  Chris was amazed to find that there were widget makers out there who had already discovered the information he had found, and were making a better widget.  Chris immediately applied for and was offered a position with these better widget makers.
Chris returned to notify his previous employers of his decision and things soon got out of control.  Instead of gathering his belongings and leaving quietly, it was just a short time until his last day turned into an apocalypse.  Much yelling and ugly words were exchanged before Chris stormed out, effectively burning the bridge behind him as he exited.
Upon joining the new widget makers, Chris felt led to change his name again as the old name smelled of the last widget factory.  So Chris felt impressed to call himself Jacob (His new friends called him Jake).
In a few weeks, Jake discovered that these new widget makers had an idea he had never thought of before.  Why not take this better widget to those who are using a faultier version of the widget, so they can embrace a better way.  This was ingenious; Jake could see how this was helping the other people in so many ways.
Jake put on his “I Have A Better Widget” shirt and rushed out to tell others.  With his chin held high and a look of righteousness all over his face, Jake stood outside the old widget factory and waited for the others to exit after a long day of work.
To his shock and dismay, all he approached seemed to be angry and hurt even directing that pain towards Jake and were accusatorial in their replies.
Jake walked away, shaking his head in disbelief that they couldn’t see how much better the new widget was and how wrong they were in holding on to the old widget. He would NEVER be that way.
The End.


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