Editorial January 4, 1988 Issue

Dealing with the dinosaur problem

Allison W. Phinney, Jr.

There is a cartoon by the American cartoonist Gary Larson that shows a convention of dinosaurs. One dinosaur is standing on his hind legs at the podium, addressing his audience of fellow dinosaurs. They are listening seriously as he spells out the scope of the problem—big climate challenges and not much dinosaur intelligence to cope.

From time to time, we may feel as though we're faced with circumstances about as difficult as the dinosaurs': the odds are against us, and we just don't think we have the capacity to cope. The solution may be to refuse to think of oneself as a dinosaur—to refuse to picture oneself in the first place as something that can be outmoded, lumbering, and lacking in capacity to surmount circumstances.

It's true that circumstances are often pretty persuasive in suggesting reasons for being a "dinosaur." They may range from the feeling that one is "over the hill" and can't pick up new skills for a changing job market to the feeling that as a young person one lacks sufficient educational, family, or cultural background to be wanted. But the fact is that no one is a dinosaur, young or old, and therefore we don't need to picture ourselves as one.

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