Seeing the Patterns

The dirt, the grass, the smell of growth … as a young teen working the family farm I had ample time to explore each blade of grass I chewed, each bale of hay we stacked and each tree or bend of the creek where we lived. For me, the acres around the house were an immense universe of life that would continue forever; it was exactly this realization one day that the same rock upon which I sat would persist long after the memory of anything I would do, say or write that prompted me to begin my thoughts of the future.

As I evolve through college, profession, marriage and fatherhood, the essence of that solid stone points me to a broader future. It is because of my memories of that natural space that I look to the future and think, despite the humming of daily life, technology and business, what can I do to ensure those blades of grass continue to sprout, the dirt continues to enrich and all growth – of food, humanity, knowledge, spirit and life – happens for longer than I. While the hectic pell-mell of life occurs, for me, it is these small memories that continue to drive me to think of the future.

In that thinking, I look across the swath of life, much as I looked across the swaths of a mown hayfield, and see patterns – some driven by machinery, some driven by wind, some by my own sweat and labor. It is this looking at the world around, the noticing of patterns, the recognition of the forces by which patterns form and the thinking of how such patterns will adjust all of our futures that inherently drive me as a futurist. Thinking through tomorrow’s scenarios, planning for the uncertainty and weathering the unexpected storm or calm is a natural and intense attraction for a child of the farm.

Thus, as a social researcher, I see the world of people and the patterns we create as my future universe. Much as I spent what seemed a lifetime (if only a few years) on that small family farm, I now spend a lifetime looking at new blades of grass, at new fertile soils and at new growth of all people to see what the future brings. Much as acorns sprout the largest oaks, I see social pattern as sprouts to the diversity of the future. It is for this reason, this life of seeking to understand and learn, I engage as a futurist.

Thank you for the opportunity to post, this was an enjoyable lunchtime self-discovery.

Richard Maltsbarger
VP Research
Lowes