Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

The familiar is comfortable. The comfort, however, sometimes hides risk and impending doom. Take care.

I have been on the road for two weeks walking mostly through rural Alabama. This weekend I am in Tuscaloosa. This is a university town, so it differs from most of the places I have been. I was driving around on Sunday morning (a no-walking day) and before my eyes was a shopping center just like I would see in Reston, Virginia (home base). There before my eyes was a Starbucks, Chipotle, Panera Bread, and even a Five Guys (a hamburger chain based in the Washington, D.C. area – how did a Five Guys get here???).

Ah, familiar. Such a feeling of comfort came over me. Go to Starbucks for coffee, sit in Panera for coffee and WiFi and maybe a sandwich. Go to Five Guys for a hamburger with jalepenos and grilled onions and maybe some fries. I was looking forward to this.

Familiarity is comfortable. That isn’t an original thought with me. I have experienced it many times before this experience today. Ahh, I have been here before, I like this.

What could go wrong? Well, a lot of things. Consider the (dying) newspaper industry. Quite familiar for many decades and quite comfortable.

I rarely see impending doom while comfortable. Consider the (dying) newspaper industry. They never saw the impending doom.

I suppose we could run through a long list of examples where people were in the familiar, became quite comfortable, and didn’t see possible problems coming. Consider the (dying) newspaper industry. Ooops, I mentioned that one twice already. I guess I am familiar and comfortable with that example. I better think of another one. The railroads once ruled America – familiar, comfortable, doomed. Bell once ruled telecommunications – familiar, comfortable, doomed. IBM once ruled data processing – familiar, comfortable, doomed.

What did I do this day? I had a cup of coffee at Starbucks. While drinking it I listened to a conversation of three college students. That made my day. Lunch? I drove past Panera Bread, Chipotle, and Five Guys. Instead I ate at a local barbeque place. It wasn’t familiar, so it wasn’t as comforting, but it was really good.