President's Message

by Jean Fudge, President, SWO Chapter of STC

Mutability … and Other Classic Challenges

Is anybody familiar with the “ Mutability” or “Ozymandius” poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley?

I think I first encountered “Mutability” in grade school. I’m not sure, but I think I also encountered it in high school and college. (If I didn’t read it all three places, it certainly FELT that way …) Let’s just say that I got the impression that it is one of the most important British poems of all time. At the time, I wasn’t much impressed with the poem, whose name is synonymous with “change.” I thought, “Okay, okay. Things change. I got it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that things change.”

“Ozymandius” was even worse. It talked about an ancient broken statue in the middle of a desert. Some really big king from ancient times claimed that he was all-powerful, but his accomplishments are now in ruin. “Whoop-dee-do,” I thought. “How boring.”

The poems mean a lot more to me 30 years later. (They obviously were picked by the teachers according to their middle-aged sensibilities, instead of keeping in mind the interests of young teenagers!) “Ozymandius” especially rings true: can’t you just see Bill Gates in the place of Ozymandius the ruler?

What does this have to do with us and STC? Well, I think I am now on my sixth career since college graduation in 1981: journalism, classic tech writing (paper manuals), multimedia design / production / editing, information management / web design, training, and tech support. Can you say “mutability”?

My first career was the one I trained for in college. Even there, I picked up a new skill: photography. The other careers developed on the job. We couldn’t have taken a class in online help because the PC hadn’t even been invented yet! When I took programming in college, we used punch cards and had to wait in line for hours at the computer center until we got the results of our program. I was in multimedia during its infancy. My most recent career is one of the most surprising: tech support. It’s a good thing that I am a quick and willing learner.
And that’s the bottom line for me: willingness to learn. Without it, you won’t survive long in today’s world of rapid change.

As for Ozymandius … How many times have you heard: “Oh, you have to get training in x y z!” or “Such and such is the thing of the future.” The wowie-zowie technology of today gets replaced by something that is just as imperative for survival. That sounds like the all-powerful Ozymandius. He eventually ended up on the scrap heap, along with the has-been technology.

Where does this bring me? Believe, me, I’ve thought long and hard about this kind of stuff lately. Here’s some of what I’ve come up with:

Action. I need to take some kind of action in order to maintain sanity and serenity. In the past, it may have been okay to cruise on past effort. However, today I need to make an effort. I just gotta face it.

Ongoing Education. I need to make some effort to stay educated. Gone are the days of resting on knowledge gained from a college degree earned 25 years ago. STC has been an important part of this education effort. I’ve also started going back to school, to formalize some of the technical stuff that I learned on the job, and to gain new knowledge.

Support. I need to actively pursue my support system. This includes purely social friends, STC friends, family ... On more than one occasion, my little nieces and nephews have been extremely helpful; playing with them is a great antidote for stress!

Try: I need to make an honest effort without knocking myself out. Sometimes perfectionism has kept me from even trying. Some famous person said, “Ninety percent of life is showing up.” That statement has value for me.

Balance: Work is an important part of life, but it is not the only part. Family, friends, health, spirituality/religion are all important, too. If I put too much emphasis on one area for too long, I get unbalanced and wobbly.

Cautious Optimism: Look on the bright side, but be prepared for anything!

That’s part of my ongoing effort to pursue serenity and stay employed. Hope it is of some help or interest to you.
Finally, here are the two poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Enjoy!
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Mutability

by: Percy Bysshe Shelley

We are the clouds that veil the midnight moon;
How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
Streaking the darkness radiantly!--yet soon
Night closes round, and they are lost forever:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
Give various response to each varying blast,
To whose frail frame no second motion brings
One mood or modulation like the last.

We rest.--A dream has power to poison sleep;
We rise.--One wandering thought pollutes the day;
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;
Embrace fond foe, or cast our cares away:

It is the same!--For, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free:
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but Mutability.

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Ozymandius
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said--"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."