EDITOR'S COLUMN
“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.” –R. Buckminster Fuller
(American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist)
I don’t know if any of you have ever felt like a caterpillar in a world full of butterflies. I have, and it can be pretty hard. The thing is that every caterpillar has inside itself the very thing needed to become a butterfly. In fact, that transformation is the caterpillar’s destiny. Imaginal cells (a lovely and unusually poetic name for a bit of biology), which are present within the caterpillar’s body, are responsible for the transformation. Once begun, the process is unstoppable. The caterpillar is no more. The beautiful butterfly emerges. I like to think that we have our own kind of imaginal cells. They are just waiting to help us become the butterfly we were meant to be—to listen to that voice inside us, instead of the noise around us. If we can have the courage to just be our true selves and follow our own paths, we can each achieve our own kind of success. Buckminster Fuller transformed himself, and his life, at a particularly low point in his life. He had lost his job, most of his money—everything seemed to go wrong. He was despondent, to say the least. When it seemed there were no good choices left, he somehow pivoted to a new path—his own path—and the rest, as they say, is history. His achievements are many and varied. He became a giant. So, I leave you this time with a second pearl of wisdom from Buckminster Fuller, or Bucky, as I understand his friends called him. I think it’s worth pondering . . . “The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it's a different kind of life.” As always, thanks for reading.
Teresa Fausey Associate Editor
www.womenworthwatching.com
2022 Second Quarter
5
