Changing industries and trends are a critical factor in managing any career or business, noted in Where Are The Jobs? and Top Factors Influencing Career Advancement. We are reminded every day of the economic and social implications associated with technological advancements, an aging demographic, reduced birthrates, environmental challenges and organizational trends. Perhaps it is the constant flow of data along with the dramatic statistics that softens the response to one of complacency. The facts may not induce a stir but you may find the impact of changing industries and trends astonishingly evident in the following poem written by a resident of Arnprior, Ontario:
Requiem for a Railway
Nameless migrant horde
Toiling on through rock and plain
Fleshing out a dream
Slender winding thread
Shining steel from shore to shore
Forged our nation’s bond
Sturdy peasant stock
Coonskin coat with hope held high
Sett’lin in the West
Miles and miles of cars!
Prairie wheat and hard-rock ore
Country’s live blood flow
Trouble flames afar
Fresh-faced youth now khaki clad
Answer freedom’s call
Family holiday!
Mom and Dad with kids in tow
Trav’lin’ on the train
Silent rusting rails
Rotting ties and weed-choked beds
Once proud era ends
~Edward Graham
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