On Monday we had an amazing and inspiring day. It started with a Yoga class, continued with reading poetry and other prose in the College Chapel at Babson, and concluded with a wonderful Japanese Film – Shall We Dance. One poem I discovered that day, I think epitomises the challenges we will face at the end of this Saltire Programme – the possibility of becoming a Pioneer or an Entrepreneur of the World.

The Swan by Rainer Maria Rilke

This clumsy living that moves lumbering

as if in ropes through what is not done

reminds us of the awkward way the swan walks.

And to die, which is letting go

of the grounds we stand to and cling to every day,

is like the swan when he nervously lets himself down

into the water, which receives him gaily

and which flows joyfully under

and after him, wave after wave,

while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm,

is pleased to be carried, each minute more fully grown,

more like a king, composed, farther and farther on.

Can we be pioneers – yes I think we can – but to do so we have to let ourselves down nervously into the unknown waters.  We must also encourage and inspire others to do likewise.