Pick up your black box

Walking along the beach always gives you...

Time to think.

Time to reflect.

Time to wonder.

Time to pick up your black box.

Yes, your black box.

Not the one that they find after airplane crashes. Not the one that they put into cars. Not the one that comes with a ring.

Your black box is the same one you use to make your life. Engineers often refer to it as the structure containing the process for creating something. Regular people tend to think of the black box as the thing that is often looked for after a plane crash.

This is not the same.

Walk the beach.

This black box holds the components for making something happen. Think computer chip, car engine or radio. Think of things where some kind of raw material goes in one end and a product comes out the other but the process in between is largely not seen. Yet we know that something is happening in that box. We can even explain the basic mechanics of the operation.

Think.

Bytes go in, words come out on the screen. Gas goes in, pistons fire, car moves forward. Electricity and radio waves go in and music comes out.

There is nothing like a walk on the beach.

A man was standing at the news stand at a gas station this past Thanksgiving morning. Gas was high. The sky was gray. It was cold outside.

Warm sand.

On the stand were competing news papers. Both had Thanksgiving themed stories with big pictures anchored in the center of the front page. Both had bright colors and holiday themed garnishment sprinkled here and there across the top corners. Both were bursting with holiday advertising inserts.

Soft sun.

The man had to choose which paper he would put in his black box for the day.

Cool water.

One paper had a Thanksgiving story about a solider coming home from war and next to it was some horrific murder story. The other paper had a story about a huge family who cobbled together whatever they could to enjoy the holiday dinner. No horrific murder headline accompanied this piece.

A light breeze.

The man had to choose which paper to buy and leisurely read this Thanksgiving morning. He had to decide what he was going to put in his black box -- the stories of war and murder or stories of family and good cheer.

Blue sky.

He made his choice with a smile. He had enough money to buy gas. He could see the gray sky. He was warm against a cold that marked a new season.

Nothing like the sun.

On this day he was aware his feelings about gas prices, gray skies and cold weather were all things that he was putting into his black box.

The man at the news stand felt good.

This moment feels like it can last forever.

So he chose the next item to put into his black box and felt even better.

Keep walking.

Everyday we put raw material into our individual black boxes. At the end of that day we have the stuff that comes out called our life.

Feels good. Another step.

Moment by moment, good or bad, we choose what goes in to make what comes out. In the end, the box is ours and so is the product.

A little further.

What's going into your black box? Pick it up and see for yourself.

Man, there is nothing like a walk on the beach.