Making Connections

Note: I realize the title of this blog is sooooo overused as to be cliché, but stick with me here – I think you’ll see how truly apt it is for this post! Thanks!
 
One of Meaningful Trainings’ signature phrases, “Stitching Together” usually refers to establishing and sustaining relationships across generations – familial, organizational, etc. – to facilitate the transfer of knowledge that is essential to survival. Funny how this seemingly timeless function of our being has been marginalized in recent memory, but watching what innovative sparks ignite when “old” engineers are given opportunities to share what they’ve internalized with “whiz kid” new ones and vice versa has thoroughly convinced us of its current (and ongoing) importance, necessity and power!
 
Well, suffice to say, the phrase has taken on an entirely new and enhanced (another cliché!) meaning after my reading of Simon Winchester’s Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. Ostensibly about a massive volcanic eruption that literally shook the globe, Winchester’s book is more a tour de force of human connection. He writes extensively and with great historical accuracy about both the discovery, function and catastrophic effects of planetary plate tectonics, as well as the advent and importance of global telecommunications. What’s more interesting, and brought to light in relation to the title subject is just how the intersection of these two entities served to reinforce the human need to know… EVERYTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER!

Part of the planet’s fabric had been ripped asunder: And part of that same planet, the part     connected by cables [underwater, gutta percha wrapped for waterproof durability] and telegraphs and with access to newspapers, was now being informed of the event… Millions of people hitherto unknown to one another began to involve themselves, for the first time ever, in looking beyond their hitherto limited horizons of self; they started to inhabit a new and outward-gazing world that these storytelling agencies [emphasis mine], and this event they were relating, were unwittingly helping to create. (Winchester, 2003, pp. 194 - 195)

In reading the above paragraph, I was gratified to realize that in “stitching together” (groups, knowledge, ideas, generations) Meaningful Trainings serves as a modern-day link in the communication chain of history. Our very HUMAN desire to help folks improve their storytelling agency to create new (rewarding, innovative) stories truly does help make meaningful connections with, among and between each other!