Progress is our most important . . . .

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. -Sydney Smith, writer and clergyman (1771-1845)

Human progress, any progress for that matter, does not come all at once, in a blinding flash of innovation. Progress is like evolution, one increment at a time. As is the opposite, human antiprogress is like devolution, one increment at a time.

It is a pet peeve of mine that people who do not want progress can block its path successfully by not allowing the increments. They can deny the greater, final event by denying the smaller events, and they deny the small events by being uncompromising.

A hunter stalks a deer. The deer’s goal is clear, to not be dinner. The hunter’s goal is likewise clear, for the deer to be dinner. Upon first discovering a deer, the hunter will approach cautiously, not desiring to alert the deer to its presence until the opportunity to strike successfully is reached. The deer that is unsuspicious or unwary is dinner. The cautious dear, when first suspecting the hunter, will stop feeding, sensing with its nose, its ears, and its eyes for the presence of a hunter. The hunter will cease its progress, conceding the deer the hunter’s time, not striking now and delaying its dinner, until a more sure time to strike. Not sensing any immediate danger, the deer continues to graze. The hunter will again work to progress to striking range, until the deer is suspicious again, interrupting its grazing. The hunter will then again give to the deer a peaceful time to graze, ceasing its progress until the deer returns to eating. This will progress until the hunter is assured of final success and makes the deer its dinner.

The wary deer will, when first alerted to the presence of a hunter, flee. In this way the deer denies the hunter the little steps to success.

A couple ideas leap to mind for the thoughtful reader. One, people are both deer and hunter in one; and two, progress is in the eye of the beholder.