As I try to put together a slide show for the 60 year anniversary party, I marvel at what this club has been through over the years. I myself have only been here for about the last ten years having found ESCONI late in my life unfortunately. I seem to have missed the really great years when there was a larger membership with a very active bunch of people running all the groups including not just one Juniors group but several. Those were the good old days. I see that membership was over 600 back in the sixties. What has happened today that has shrunk our club and not just our club but all the clubs? There used to be a large number of very active clubs all over the Chicago area that were running shows and field trips every year.
Times are changing and people must be doing other things with their time rather than spending it outside looking for fossils or minerals or archaeological sites or making jewelry. It’s true that it is becoming harder to do some of these things – quarries are becoming more restrictive and sites are harder to find, but it can be done. But it is still fun to sort through these fossils and minerals and identify them and organize them and share them with others who are interested in them.Why are we still here? Because there are some dedicated people who still love what we stand for and are willing to work for it. They are the names you see all the time in the Bulletin because they are willing to put in the time to keep the Club running. People are the heart and soul of any organization and it is no exception for ESCONI.
We still love to go out and find new things. We love the thrill of finding things that have not been seen for thousands or millions of years and then sharing them with others who can appreciate the wonder and beauty of them. We try to see in our minds eye what the world would have been like back then when these animals and plants were here in a world that was so different and unlike what we see around us today. It is an adventure and an experience in lifelong education that we are undertaking because we want to know where they came from and maybe along the way to learn a little more about ourselves.
Science is constantly changing in that new discoveries cause us to look at things with fresh eyes and to reevaluate what we know. As we learn more we know more about how life has evolved on this planet; there are fewer gaps as more missing links are being found. Our club helps us to discuss and learn more about these things by sharing what we find and discover first hand. And we try to keep up with what is going on in the area and around the world which is especially challenging with the rate at which information is processed today. Through our meetings with invited guests and our own research we try to keep up and understand what was going on in our world long ago. And it is a fun trip.
We’ve come a long way over the years and I’m sure we’ll learn a great deal more even faster in the future because of the increase in rate of the technology. But it is still fun to get out and get dirty and that will probably never change. As seen in the photo, I enjoy getting into the dirt as I did back years ago with Jim Kirkland when I went looking for dinosaurs in Colorado. I still do dig for dinosaurs regularly and find them usually in Utah now. They have a lot of them out there and like to have the help. That is what this club is all about.
Finding people with the same interests and sharing them. That is how you find the opportunities and ideas that turn into adventures for the future. You can learn about the places where things can be found and done and where things are or are not. And maybe you can find someone to go there with. Someone that appreciates the value of what it is all about.
So where are we going? I'm looking forward to continuing to offer a good place to share adventures and good times with friends who appreciate the same things. We can try to help educate those who want to learn more about the earth sciences. We do this by sharing what we have learned and are continuing to learn about this good Earth and its long long history.