volution, Not Revolution

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

The Baron met every Wednesday morning with his chief advisor, Professor Hamblin, formerly of Cambridge University. Lady Angela of Alpine Castle often attended the meeting and the luncheon that followed.

The luncheon was often served on the large porch-garden that overlooked Castle Lake. The discussion at this particular meeting was regarding the fast pace of change in society. Growth and movement can occur only as fast as the public will accept and understand. When a company or country moves too fast, unforeseen problems develop that cause more complicated situations.

The Professor gave an example of a small well-established college that was just barely able to keep going year after year for many years. It was a struggle but everyone pitched in and supported the alumni drives for small donations. Then, one day a very rich man gave the college a huge sum of money. The college administration was so overjoyed that they got the board of trustees to rename the college in honor of the donor.

The huge donation to the college enabled now buildings to be built and old buildings to be painted the same color of the new buildings. Everything looked nice and fresh and the trustees and administration were pleased. They even invited all alumni to send back their diplomas and receive a new one with the new name on it.

The offer went out to all alumni who were not informed about the huge gift and the name change. None of the alumni replied to the request to return their old college diplomas for new ones with the name change. When the alumni visited the campus during the annual alumni day homecoming events they did not recognize the college and left for home before the event was over. The alumni quietly said to each other that they felt they didn’t belong anymore.

Professor Hamblin mentioned that the alumni of the college lost interest because the college progressed too fast for them to keep up with all the changes and interest waned. While the college received a large gift, it paid a high price of losing alumni support. The alumni were lost forever.

The moral of this college tale was that the Lilliland administration must go slowly in promoting changes and not leave out or take for granted any segment of the population. Not all change is good. Planning carefully and acting slowly in a very responsible manner were the final cautions to the subject of the luncheon meeting.