Getting ready to clean my teeth yesterday morning and I reach for the toothpaste. On closer inspection I’m confronted with this product – Arm & Hammer’s charcoal infused toothpaste. And then I had that feeling in my stomach – no, not THAT one! That familiar feeling of seeing something you knew made perfect, logical sense specifically because you’d come face-to-face with a technique, product, tool, invention that was as old as your ancestors but has now been given a new lease of life by smart packaging and sagacious marketing.
I faced those same feelings when a couple of years ago Zobo (a demotic of Northern Nigerian extraction for hibiscus tea), haven been spurned by my newly minted tech generation as pleb fare, made a glossy comeback on international supermarket shelves as hibiscus tea: rebranded and kitted out to appeal to the healthfoods crowd.
My takeaway: modernization is great and brings with it astounding discoveries and sometimes dizzying advances but let’s not throw away the baby with the bathwater. Not everything from the old world was bad or useless. There might be ways to modernise or upcylce and sometimes success and some profit await those with a keen eye and ability to provide unorthodox solutions to everyday problems. In other words: if you bend down you go see Aba!
My final thoughts turn to Physics sage and gifted thinker Stephen Hawking who left behind a loving family and a legacy of determination in the early hours of this morning. He will be missed.
Peace and love.
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