Making choices rates higher than following mandates.
My son, Dylan, recently attended a punting camp at the University of Virginia. My wife, Linda, and I used our proximity to visit the home of UVA’s founder, Thomas Jefferson. Monticello (“Little Mountain” in Latin) is worth a visit, but the boot-camp rigidity of the visitation process greatly diminished our enjoyment factor. Tour by stopwatch; three minutes per room. I was surprised we didn’t have to hold hands with a partner.
After we left, we saw the sign (2 x 3-ft., out-of-home signage works!) for James Monroe’s house, Ashlawn, 4.5 miles away. There, “tours” are much more fun, due to their informal nature. We had four people; two others joined us midstream. We had time to actually look at objects and ask questions.
Tourist density necessitates dissimilar procedures for efficiency’s sake, but I didn’t have to like it. I wouldn’t go back.
More than three decades removed from my last American-history class, I’d forgotten Jefferson’s true genius. He was really the first person (with the power to shape policy) to consider that government might exist to serve its people. He was the first national leader to view economic sanctions as military tactics.
Monticello showcases his innovative prowess: dumbwaiters around his fireplaces, skylights in the ceiling, double sets of paned-glass doors, a “polygraph” for duplicating his prodigious writing. I loved the saying: “Washington fought the Revolution. Jefferson thought the Revolution.”
Much of September's ST issue concerns the federal government Jefferson helped craft. Included are articles and anecdotes about mandates and making choices with preemptive innovation. Our primary “environmental” article, written by Steve Aust, represents a mix, but it’s mostly about product and process choices. The article about mercury usage and recycling focuses more on obligations, while the companion piece about a biodegradable vinyl showcases conscious decision.
Typically, the federal government issues macro policies, and the sign industry’s microscopic portion of whatever that market is gets swept into one-size-fits-all policies . . . unless it proactively recognizes impending change and communicates its unique nature.
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