By Penny Power – Business Author & Human-Centred Speaker
This week I want to talk about something tender, but so important in all our lives.
Not about strategy, nor AI capability, nor how to be productive.
I want to continue to promote balance with AI and EQ.
The quiet joy and dignity of human action. It was prompted by my garden loving friend, who shared with me on Sunday that she was thinking about buying a robot to cut her grass. A wise thought, many would say.
I shared this story with her and decided, this was a great ponder for us all this week.
In 2019, Thomas and I visited the Normandy American Cemetery.
Row upon row of white crosses stretched out before us, young men, mostly, who gave their lives so that others could live freely. The silence there was sacred.
What moved me most was not only the graves. It was the volunteers.
Dozens of mostly retired men, on their hands and knees, carefully trimming the grass around each stone. Gently. Slowly. Tenderly.
It was respect and love.
It was gratitude made visible.
You could almost feel them whispering the words carved into memory:
“When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
Those volunteers had a purpose. They were contributing something no machine could measure.
Six years later, we visited the World War I graves at Le Somme.
Just as moving. Just as sacred. But this time, there were no volunteers on their knees.
There was a robot lawnmower quietly circling the graves.
It was efficient, precise and respectfully silent.
However, I felt an unexpected sadness.
Not because the grass was cut by a machine. That in itself is not wrong.
But because the human touch was absent.
No one was kneeling.
No hands tending.
No visible act of gratitude.
So I found myself walking up and down the rows, gently placing my hand on the top of each gravestone, whispering quietly, “Love you. Thank you.”
The absence of human presence made me realise how much it matters.
Technology can trim grass.
– It cannot bless.
AI can optimise systems.
– It cannot feel gratitude.
A robot can maintain a surface.
– It cannot hold reverence.
And here is the deeper question I have been sitting with:
What are we eagerly automating that might actually nourish us, if we did it with our own hands and hearts?
Where are we replacing our purpose for speed?
Because those volunteers in 2019 were not just cutting grass.
They were experiencing purpose.
They were embodying gratitude.
They were contributing to memory and honour in a way that enriched them too.
There is joy in human action and there is dignity in contribution.
There is meaning in doing something slowly and intentionally, even when a machine could do it faster.
This is not about rejecting technology.
It is about remembering that some things feed our souls more than they save our time.
Perhaps the question this week is simple:
What could you do with your hands and heart that no technology can replace?
Where could you choose presence over efficiency?
Because sometimes, the most beautiful contribution is not the smartest one.
It is the most human one.
With love,
Penny x
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