Friday, November 04, 2016

Two of Life's Universal Truths... And Now There Are Three!



"My kinda town..."
Was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago at one of those grand poobah, trade association meetings. Takeaways from the confab were, as usual, pretty much a null set. 

Trade association, muckety-muck conclaves fall short quite often due to mis-scheduling. How so?  Because the meetings are always slotted backwards. The sessions should include four or five hour-long "breaks", interrupted periodically by 15 minute speakers. Invariably it's set up the other way.  

As most of us know, the real business of a conference, the real conversations, networking, information sharing and friendships are discovered in the hallways, at the reception or in the bar. The most knowledgeable people you ever wanted to talk to are generally sitting right beside you, not standing up at the dais.



But, that's not what I wanted to tell you about. The "Universal Truths" I discovered in Chicago arose in a downtown park.  If you stroll around Chicago a bit, you'll marvel at the striking architecture, ramble out to the
Navy Pier


"The Bean"
  Navy Pier to ride the Ferris wheel, and inevitably end up in Millennial Park in front of "The Bean", Anish Kapoor's high-sheen "Cloud Scape" sculpture, which is now perhaps the most famous landmark in the City.

The crowds in the park are quite a treat to watch. You see folks from all over the world, business folks, street people, high school groups, weddings, and lots of moms shepherding their kids amongst the stir.  Another fascinating spot in the park is the 
Fountain tower
 "spewing" water...
"Walking on water..."
Jaume Plensa fountain which is composed of two video, fountain towers separated by a wide, one inch deep pool of water. Folks, of course, wade right in and give the appearance of being able to "walk on water". It's a terrific, ever changing "life-show"...


Watched for several hours - particularly the moms and kids - and came away with two, unwavering
 Universal Truths ...



1) "ALL KIDS LOVE TO CHASE PIGEONS."

2)"ALL KIDS LOVE A PUDDLE."

(... actually I still do too.)

 (How about you?)


AND 
3) THE CUBS ARE CONTENDERS!!



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So, while you are participating in another industry boondoggle in Chicago, to balance our budget for 2017, CUNA "leadership" has tacked on a 29% increase on our employee contribution to healthcare. Instead of useless events like the one in Chicago, how about properly pay and provide fair benefits to hardworking staff. Mr. Nussle should be ashamed.