In 1886 John Pemberton created the original Coca-Cola. It was advertised as a brain tonic particularly due to its two key ingredients — cocaine and caffeine. Well, I am glad we got the coke out of the Coke. However, it was a good move to keep the caffeine. Most people appreciate that.

This is definitely a case in which the original was not the best. Companies sometimes create an original product and then fall so in love with it that they believe it can never be improved. Sometimes people become so immersed in the current culture that they can never see beyond it. For example, most of the cars some of us loved, adored, and drove in the 1960s and 1970s we call death traps today.

Perspectives and cultures change. Knowledge enlarges. When that happens new possibilities arise. New visions appear. What is ultimately important is that we continually embrace the possibilities of the future by being willing to discard elements of the past. We have to be willing to dump the coke but keep the caffeine.