The Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) defines creativity as “approaching a need, a task, an idea from a new perspective.”  My parents have diligently sought to instil this important character quality in their children and, as many of you probably already know, have succeeded quite well. One of the ways they taught us to “think outside the box” and look at a project from a different angle was by setting the example. A recent “problem situation” demonstrates this:

Our old Fujitsu dot-matrix printer is not quite as old as I. It has faithfully served us for years. But for a little while it has been broken – not totally dysfunctional, but very awkward to use. The springs that held the traction feed clips in place broke and the likelihood of finding replacement parts for such an old printer was rather remote. But that didn’t stop Daddy.

Small springs… What else has small springs?

You guessed it: a mouse trap! The springs are now installed on our printer, which again functions very nicely.

Thank you, Daddy, for your exemplifying character to us!