Looking To Silas Marner

October 3, 2014      Admin

I’m older than most of the trees outside the window at the desk where I’m writing this.

But, for some reason the memory of my 9th grade English teacher, Ed Longenecker, keeps coming back and back these last two days. Especially his readings from George Eliot’s Silas Marner.

“Silas Marner, child of scorn, grew old as he assailed the seasons. He wished that he was never born, and he had reasons.”

Published in 1861, Eliot’s novel is worth a read for what it teaches us about the dangers of conformity and conventional beliefs today. In case you’re not much into reading I’ve linked the Cliff Notes version here.

silasMavericks and eccentrics are never popular; particularly when they seem unconventional. They’re the stuff of novels. But most significantly they’re also the folks who drive us to challenge the assumed conventions, to begin to think outside the box, to make those changes that lead to progress.

Last night I re-read Eliot’s Silas Marner in the context of the status quo boat most fundraisers are in. Among others, I underlined this passage:

“Habit also makes people complacent. If something hasn’t happened for a long time, that’s reason enough to think it will never happen. By that logic, traditions that haven’t changed can’t change.”

In a nutshell, this is why the same old plans get transferred year after year via Excel to next year’s budget … why we play it safe … why we don’t take risks. Why … why … why.

Maybe, just maybe, we should suspend our social media insights and streaming Tweets for a day or so and take up some more serious reading. And deeper thinking.

Doing so requires more than 140 characters.

Roger

P.S. For a practical take on all this check out Tom’s post, Taking Fundraising Risks.

3 responses to “Looking To Silas Marner”

  1. Chip Heartfield says:
    October 3, 2014 at 10:40 am

    Thanks, Roger, the “habit” quote has always been one of my favorites because I like things to be organized and that can lead to complacency if you don’t push yourself. But the beauty of direct response is that you are not really doing it unless testing is a given.

    So, I think it is fine to transfer a (productive and profitable) plan from last year to this year’s budget as a baseline, and then set about adding tests with a goal of beating last year’s performance. What I have found to be more common is people NOT using last year’s (and however many years before that) results and experiences as a starting point. Reinventing the wheel or not learning from your successful and failed tests, hunches or way out there ideas is worse, I think, than using last year’s plan as a starting point and a challenge for this year.

  2. Joseph White says:
    October 3, 2014 at 11:18 am

    Roger — I don’t read every post or every article but today’s was like fresh autumn wind rustling the leaves outside my window. It makes me want to read your posts everyday. You encourage us to explore uncharted spaces. Thanks! joe w

  3. Harry Lynch says:
    October 3, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    Joe, your prose rivals George Elliot’s. I like that a lot. 🙂

    Roger, I’m more a Middlemarch kind of guy and if it makes you feel any better someone just used their 140 characters quoting from that novel:

    “What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?”

    It’s lonely to distrust the status quo but that’s the only way we break new ground isn’t it?

    Anyway, truly wonderful post. Have a terrific weekend!

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