I have had several mini’s over the years, and so has Gail. Years ago as a student I used to drive three friends plus myself, plus all our luggage, hundreds of miles in an early mini. Here is a picture of my mini loaded up with luggage and waiting to receive 4 strapping guys. This picture was taken in Plumstead, Cape Town in 1965.
Looking back that seems amazing, and probably a little foolhardy. On one occasion we even considered squeezing a fifth person in! If you see one of the original cars now they seem ludicrously tiny! Hardly big enough for 2 people, let alone 4! Yet we would do those huge distances in cramped conditions starting 6am and getting in perhaps 8pm.
The mini, designed well over 60 years ago, was totally reliable. At least mine was. I used to think it was amazing – and actually it was!
But compare it with its modern successor. What can you say? It isn’t the same car. Apart from mini fans – and there are of course plenty of them – those original mini’s are for most people today simply quaint relics from a bygone era. It would be easy to poke fun at them. Yet their design was revolutionary and set the trend for modern small car motoring and rallying. It has been said that the mini is the most influential single car Britain has ever produced.
Give credit where it is due! Respect the achievements of the past! We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Jesus honoured the teachers of his day (remember him listening to the Rabbis in the Temple in Jerusalem when he was 12?) even if he took things way beyond what they represented. And while the Gospel message is for all time, we interpret it afresh for each generation. Maybe, despite falling church attendance in the UK, it is ever more relevant to a fallen world in danger of collapse.
Comments