migrants in time

image by Mosborne01
image by Mosborne01

In many ways, constancy is an illusion. After all, our ancestors were immigrants, many of them moving on every few years; today we are migrants in time. Unless teachers can hold up a model of lifelong learning and adaptation, graduates are likely to find themselves trapped into obsolescence as the world changes around them. Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.
~ Mary Catherine Bateson
(Composing a Life)

20 thoughts on “migrants in time”

  1. I love the image you’ve used! And I particularly like this line from the quote:

    “Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.”

  2. Barbara,

    Great quote one that is very true and one we or I need to be asking myself :it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.

  3. Hi Barbara,

    This was a particularly inspiring pairing of quote with art. So good that with your permission I’d like to print it out and put on my studio wall!

    Thanks for shining such a bright light!

  4. this is the quote I take away:
    Unless teachers can hold up a model of lifelong learning and adaptation, graduates are likely to find themselves trapped into obsolescence as the world changes around them.

  5. Thought provoking piece of message, Barbara. I like the picture and the message has conveyed a lot to me. I’m still thinking… Thank you so much for sharing this. 🙂

  6. Barbara, what a wonderful quote! What is staying with me is the part of the question….will this be a good place from which to go on? Rick and I are in a temporary stopping place and will eventually be moving on, next step, as of now, unknown. Learning about constancy and illusion…..

    Thank you for this 🙂

    1. You’re welcome, Colleen! Nothing lasts forever, so if we think we’re settled in one place, that will eventually be an illusion. In the past few years we’ve seen the houses of both of our grandparents on Cape Cod sold. Because the houses had been in our families since the mid-1800s it had seemed like they would be in the families forever. So strange that we both had to let go of something that had seemed so constant…

  7. We are migrants in time. Nothing is constant. Every year our lives evolves hopefully for the best. As for learning, a new one comes every second till the Earth ceased to exist. That’s the beauty of life, gives us hope that tomorrow would be better than today. Beautiful words my friend. This I can freeze in time. Stay blessed.

    1. Thank you, island traveler! That is the beauty of life – for everything we lose we gain something else. Nature always finds the balance and if we follow her example we will find a flexibility which will make us more grateful for what we have and will help us to live in the present moment. Blessings to you and your little family, too…

    1. I’m planning on reading it, too, Jane. I found the quote in a collection of quotes for teachers and thought the book looks very encouraging. Maybe we can compare notes after we finish reading it! 🙂

  8. You’re welcome and I’m glad you enjoyed it, Melissa!

    As far as I know it should be all right to print it out for your own personal use. The picture was found at Wikimedia Commons and the contributor, “Mosborne01” only asked that it be attributed to him/her when used. I imagine the quote could not be used if you were planning to profit by its use…

  9. Teaching the next generation such flexibility is so important! Gone are the days when a person could work at the same job at one company for her whole life. It seems more and more that we always need to be “in training” to keep up with the fast pace of change in most fields!

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